I got this and a swifter at the same time. YAY!
PROS:
So much easier and faster to wind than creating a ball by hand. Glad I bought it!!!
The resulting cake is easy to USE when knitting (as opposed to a ball) because the cake stays put when you pull on it.
Works smoothly and is quiet.
Negative review states that it is not good for fingering yarn. I did not have a problem with fingering yarn; it inserted into the slits on the bobbin and held just fine.
PRO FOR SOME, CON FOR OTHERS:
the hole in the middle of the cake is large. Some may like that because it may make it easier to center-pull the yarn, and leaves plenty of room to insert the label when storing the cake. I prefer a smaller cake but that is personal.
I am editing this review after more use. Initially, I thought the bobbin in the middle wasn't held in tightly, allowing the cake to pop off. Since then I realize that with some effort this middle bobbin does in fact click in securely and WILL NOT POP OFF. So if you were having trouble with it popping, off, try again. It does click in to place. In fact, once it's in it's hard to take it apart.
CONS:
It is not easy to break down into the small box it came in, so storage is not optimal. But the thing is not too big. And I love it more every time I use it.
I absolutely love this yarn winder. A little bit of tension held with my fingers was all I needed to get lovely tight cakes. I practically want to ice them I'm so in love. My yarn collection (which is admittedly meager) went from skeins stacked and praying they won't fall down to a neatly organized stack. I love this device.
I love this thing. Works quickly and well. The cons is that it squeaks something fierce and I wish that it had a topper to keep the yarn from flying off. If you try to do it too tightly the yarn will slip. Getting it started is a bit of a pain, you have to hold the end down until the string crosses over it otherwise it'll come out of the groove on the top.
It's so much easier on your hands then winding them into balls, much faster too. I did more than 30 cakes in a couple of hours last night. You can go pretty fast without any issue.
I love this winder. I can make cakes quickly and easily and without the hand cramps that come with hand winding yarn into balls. The center-pull cakes are great for storage and don't run away like balls. I tuck in the loose end on the outside of the cake with a crochet hook so it doesn't unwind from the outside.
The biggest complaint is the squeaking. However, this is fixable. If you unscrew the handle on the crank, you can lube up the post in the middle and keep it from squeaking for quite some time. A little WD-40 would work. I actually used just some almond oil I had nearby and it worked just fine. I have also just put a drip ont he inside edge of the handle and wiggled the plastic handle piece around to get some oil inside.
I read about these, and decided to get one, but the only cakes I had seen were those that have just come into the Joann type stores in the last year. The yarn seemed really tight to me, and I remember trying to knit with yarn that had lost its spring, so after one bad cake where I just let the ball roll around on the floor and the eyelet tension take care of it, I read the reviews that you should hold it between your fingers. The cakes came out beautifully, but seemed fragile to me.. no more winding up remmnants and tossing in a big bag. These were going to need to be lined up in a box or shelf, and I have LOTS of yarn. I was debating just rolling before I started knitting, and leaving them in skeins or remnant balls for now. However, I wrote to the "question" and got lots of advice. I rewound one of the cakes I had done initially, and compared it to the other... was a half inch smaller, and with no center anymore, the yarn had relaxed. I am not rewinding the first ones I did. This is fast. Two ideas.. pick up a thin dowel, and run down the center and you can make skyscrapers, or save pantyhose to secure them if you throw them in a bag with 30 other ones. Talking about the left overs. It just takes a couple min to rewind, so you can make little balls of the left overs.
Feature Product
- Transform yarn hanks and skeins into compact center pull cakes that sit nicely while you knit and crochet
- Easily winds up to 100g or 3.5 ounces of yarn, from lace and fingering weights to worsted and bulky weights
- Attaches to any table edge or surface up to 1-1/2" thick
- Removable spindle and folding yarn guide arm make for compact storage while still allowing quick and easy assembly
- Use with Yarn Swift for best results
Description
Transform hanks or skeins into compact center-pull balls that sit nicely while you knit. A clamp secures the ball winder to the table while you wind skeins up to 100 grams or 3.5 ounces. Best when used in tandem with a Yarn Swift. Note: The metal yarn guide arm comes folded against the ball winder for shipping. The guide arm needs to be moved and positioned opposite the winding handle for correct operation.
I received this yarn ball winder by Knit Picks today. Couldn't wait to try it out. For someone who has never used a yarn ball winder before, this one was so easy to set up and use the first time. The blue ball was my very first try and I have to say, I didn't do to bad. The ivory ball was from a yarn ball I had wound by hand. I was kinda worried I wouldn't be able to get all of the yarn on one ball, but it worked like a charm.
I'm a new knitter and recently had my first experience with what some folks call "yarn barf". My skein was flimsy in storage and had turned into a tangled mess in a box. I spent a good hour or longer just dealing with the knots and untangling it all, only to have to wind it by hand into something I could use. The finished product was a ball of yarn, but it wasn't pretty. And we knitters, we like pretty things, don't we? After some brief researching on YouTube, watching people use this fun thing to make yarn cakes, I decided it was worth a few bucks to quickly turn a mess of yarn into a neatly wound cake/ball. I wanted to whip up some quick cakes at home, too! So I decided it was worth my investment of twenty bucks and ordered one.
When it finally arrived, I was very excited. It came in 3 pieces, I think, and it was so easy to assemble that the instructions are printed on the outside of the box in fairly large print. No tools were needed. I attached it to the edge of my desk and re-wound the ball I'd done by hand. Took me probably 3 minutes to wind up on the winder what took me probably 30 minutes to wind by hand, and the result was nice and neat. It was a little loose the first time, so I decided to try to re-wind it a little tighter, since it was so fast. Before I knew it, I had myself a nice, tight, little yarn cake, ready for knitting.
The tool is very handy and fun to use. Since it's so fast to use, I frequently give the hand crank a spin now and then, while at my desk, just for fun. It's a bit noisy, but I kind of like the goofy winding and squeaking noise it makes. I did notice that the wool yarn I used generated quite a bit of static electricity while being wound onto the plastic device. I was mildly concerned, since my desk also houses my computer equipment, but they seem okay, and I didn't get shocked - just heard the crackling and felt the clinginess of the yarn a little. Nothing major, just something to be aware of.
So, the entire device is made of plastic with the exception of the yarn guide and the metal pin and wingnut forming the vice grip, but no metal touches my nice, wooden desk. I have read that some people have managed to break the plastic parts, so don't be overly spirited with your winding. I am pretty good to my things, so I'm not too worried it will break any time soon. If I spin it too fast for too long, I notice the grip slips a little and the thing turns ever so slightly, but on wood, I can just adjust and retighten the grip. I saw a YouTuber using this on a glass table and having a hell of a time keeping it still, so beware that the density of your surface may work against you to some degree.
I did not get the swift that is used to spread out those hanks of yarn when using this winder, because I have never bought a hank. I also don't want such a huge device hanging off my desk. The ball winder is small enough to be unobtrusive at the end of my desk, but a swift would be ridiculous for me. If I ever do get a hank, I'll just have to get creative about how to open it up for winding.
For the price this is a really good product. It takes a bit to get the tension just right and occasionally the yarn will slip to the top or bottom of the ball. The gears are very squeaky and do not run smoothly so I used some graphite to loosen them up and it worked really well. The winder handles every weight from fingering to super bulky without batting an eye. Don't expect a professional piece of equipment, but for my needs this works great. I have spent the last 2 days winding messy hand wound balls, and skeins my cat got to, into nice tight neat cakes. I'm a happy customer.
So far so good with this handy gadget. I have had no problems with squeaking or the cakes winding unevenly yet. I took some advise of other reviewers both here and on YouTube. I hold the yarn with some tension and hold it above the little metal yarn guide as its winding. The cakes wind very evenly. I re-rolled an entire brand new skein of weight 4, I Love This Yarn into a cake, and re-caked a Skein of weight 3, Mandala yarn. The mandala pushed the winder to its limits on what it could wind, being a small ball winder, but it made it. Near the end of the wind, the newly wound cake of mandala was almost touching the extended and locked yarn guide bar. This winder probably won't come remotely close to holding a Skein of Carron One Pound. I have not tried a skein of Red Heart Super Saver but it's doubtful it could fit that much into a single cake. I'm enjoying my purchase. The one con I have with the yarn winder, which is minor to me, is that I am unable to get the yarn guide to unlock to fold it in. I have no desire to mess with disassembly for storage. Mine is working fine so I just lay it on a shelf when not in use. Why mess with it and possibly misalign something! lol. This might bother some people however, which is why I mentioned it in my review. I MIGHT be able to fold back in that yarn guide but it seems like it will take
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