If you’re learning to knit, you might think that you should get a yarn winder, but do you really need one? It depends on what kind of yarn you’re using, basically, because most yarn that you buy comes wound into skeins or balls already. If you start with a hank of yarn you’ll need to wind it before using it, but if you use the other versions you might never need a yarn winder. I got one to see how they work and to wind a hank of yarn to see if it was easier than doing it by hand.
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What is a yarn winder?
A yarn winder is used to wind hanks of yarn into a ball that you can use to knit or crochet with. When you’re knitting or crocheting, you need the yarn to come off of the ball or skein evenly so that it doesn’t get tangled up. If you get a hank of yarn instead of a skein, ball, or cake, it can tangle really easily.
You can wind a ball of yarn yourself by putting the hank of yarn on your knees and winding it, or by having someone hold the hank for you as you wind it. A yarn winder, on the other hand, speeds up the process by letting you turn a handle and create a ball of yarn a lot faster than doing it by hand.
You can get electric or manual winders, and I got a manual one because I wanted to see how it worked before handing it over to a battery. I think that the manual winders are enough to speed the process up without having to worry that the electric one will go crazy and wind the yarn wrong. (You’ll see what I mean when you watch the video of me winding the ball.)
How the yarn winder works.
A yarn winder basically does the winding for you, and it winds a ball of yarn evenly. You attach the winder to a surface, attach the yarn to the winder, and turn the handle (or turn the electric ones on) and it winds the yarn into a usable ball. As long as the tension is even as the yarn winds around the center of the winder, you’ll end up with a cute little ball of yarn that looks really professional and makes knitting or crocheting easy.
I did this video showing the setup of the winder that I got, and how it worked. I did have some trouble using it a few times because it slipped off of the winder and wound around the base of it. That’s why I would suggest using a manual winder instead of an electric one. With the manual version you can control the speed and stop if the yarn does something wrong to correct it before it goes crazy.
One tip that I’d suggest is that you need to keep the yarn holder arm far enough away from the winder that the yarn feeds evenly onto it. When the arm that holds the yarn gets too close to the winder itself, it tends to get grabbed by the winder and thrown off track.
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What else you need to wind the yarn.
If you don’t have someone to hold the yarn for you so that it doesn’t grab onto itself as it’s being wound, you should get a yarn swift. That’s the umbrella-type looking thing that you put the hank of yarn on before it winds. It will feed the yarn off of the swift evenly as the winder turns, and it will keep the yarn from tangling up. This yarn swift from The Knit Store 
is made to be adjustable so that you don’t have to have the entire umbrella structure to deal with. It holds the yarn as you wind it, and you can adjust it to be tighter or looser depending on how it works best.
I tried to use the winder a couple of different ways before giving up and having my husband come to hold the yarn while I turned the winder handle. You definitely need some system to hold the yarn so that it can unwind from the hank without getting tangled up, and a swift will do that.
ESPECIALLY if you get an electric yarn winder. If you do a lot of yarn winding, like if you sell it and have to wind it into balls for sale, get a swift with an electric winder to make your life easier. If you’re only winding a few balls here and there the manual winder would be enough, but you still need a way to hold the yarn, so a swift would be good.
Watch the video here:
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