With the first commission I completed, I bought a ball winder. I am contemplating getting a yarn swift with my earnings from my next 2 commissions. The ball winder is fantastic but my 3 yr old daughter doesn’t have the strength or attention span to be my own personal yarn swift. (Poor kid starts out ok with bother her arms straight out, but after a time she lets both arms fall lifting one or the other as I pull the yarn off. It isn’t long after that before she decides she can’t do it anymore.)
So, suggestions on what to look for? I’d love to hear them.
I see that my knitpicks yarn has made it to my city, so I am waiting with bated breath. Yeah, seriously, actual bated breath. My needle order has LEFT Ohio so it still has some time to go but I am a bit less concerned about that. I just want that pretty yarn!
Seems like I go for long periods of time when I don’t have any finished objects then all of a sudden there are a bunch at once. That is happening now. There were 2 hats and a pair of socks in quick succession, and today as I looked at the entrelac scarf I am making for my mom, I realized I better wrap it up pretty quick or I will be out of yarn completely. So that should be finished this weekend too! Time to start casting on a bunch more projects right? I have about 3 just itching to get started.
I had a typical wooden swift that had been bequeathed to our knitting group — it was ok but hard to put up, hard to handle by myself, and pricey if I wanted my own. I followed a recommendation by a reader of Wendy Knits!, and checked out then bought a swift on eBay (one of my first eBay purchases, then I discovered the joys of eBay and never looked back!) Here’s the link to the one that was recommended and which I bought (not affiliated, etc.)
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/cbgerstner
the one I got is the regular size. I love it! Easily adjustable to every skein size, doesn’t take two people to set it up, doesn’t need to be clamped, and spins very freely with less tangling than the more usual swift. And less than half the price. The seller was easy to work with, very fast and courteous; apparently his wife is a fiber person and he made her one, then all her friends wanted one, and so forth.
That reminds me, I need to wind some yarn for the pair of socks I have to make for an upcoming birthday. Off to do that now….
Comment by Cathy-Cate — September 12, 2007 @ 9:14 pm