Recently, I acquired an object. An almighty and all-powerful object.
I didn’t set out to acquire an object of such importance, I just wanted a swift to hold my yarn while I wind it up into a ball so I can knit it into cozy things. Although there are many models, this was the model that was available at Fibre Space, my excellent local yarn store, on the day I decided it was time to get a swift.
A swift expands and collapses like an umbrella (hence the term “umbrella swift”). This makes it adjustable because hanks/skeins/clumps/blobs of yarn come in all different sizes, and you can only ask Husband to sit around holding out his arms while you wind yarn up so many times before things start to get a little tense. Or so I’m told.
You clamp the swift to the side of the table to hold it in place. Then you can take yarn and transform it from something like this:
to something like this:
That was obviously not a before and after of the same yarn. That really would be a magical machine.
This is what it looks like when in use (the swift is on the left in the image, the winder is on the right):
Husband and I find never-ending humor in the almighty and all-powerful reeling machine and mention it in conversation whenever we can.
I splurged on a reeling machine two years ago, and it’s one of my favorite possessions. The kids love it, too. They beg to help me wind balls of yarn.
Sarah doesn’t use her swift. She does use the ball winder, but makes me wind it while she wanders the room with the loose yarn. But this is with our skeins from Green Mountain Spinnery, not from a shop.
You have such lovely balls, ML.
That’s pretty tight. I usually just use my ankles, which can get a little uncomfortable. I like this option way better.
Rick – is Green Mountain Spinnery where they process your wool?
I’ve created a lot of yarnbarf trying to use my ankles to hold yarn. I’m just not that coordinated :-)
My favorite garbled tranlation on an instruction
sheet was for a German “Hardi” electric fuel
pump that “comprehends all merits”.
I don’t know that I’d trust a fuel pump that didn’t comprehend all merits! that’s really one to think about. I need to post an image of the instructions evil agent gave me – they came with a refrigerator magnet!