MANY YARN producers, particularly
artisan companies and hand-dyers, sell
their yarn wound into skeins or hanks.
This is the simplest way to keep lengths of
yarn neat, and is used by smaller producers
without access to winding machinery, and
also companies wanting to produce yarn
with a luxury feel. While it is technically
possible to knit straight off a skein, it will
get tangled very quickly, so it’s wise to
spend a few minutes winding your yarn
into a ball.
ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT
For fast, neat results, we’d recommend
using a swift and a ball winder. These two
pieces of equipment will cost you a bit of
money, but if you’re a keen knitter who
regularly buys yarn in skeins, it’s an
investment worth making.
A swift is a device on which you place
a skein of yarn to keep it tangle-free while
you are winding it up. The yarn freely
rotates around a central point, allowing it
to be wound up quickly. If you’re using a
swift for the first time, watch out when
you wind up the last little bit of the hank,
as sometimes the yarn can fly off and get
tangled. Then you’ll end up spending as
much time untangling a couple of metres
of yarn as you did winding a 400m hank!
There are different kinds of swifts.
The type we are using here is adjustable by
moving the pegs which hold the yarn on
to different holes. This stretches the yarn
out more, to give tension to your skein.
You can use a swift on its own or combine
it with a ball winder as well - this will
really speed up the process, and is
surprisingly simple to operate.
If you are using just a swift or a ball
winder on their own, read both groups
of instructions as you will need to combine
your techniques.
SETTING UP YOUR KIT
1 Clamp the ball winder onto the table
to the right of the swift. You want enough
space between the two pieces of equipment
to allow the swift to move freely, without
hitting the winder as it spins.
2 + 3 Move the pegs on your swift to
roughly the holes you think will be wide
enough to loop the hank over at all four
points, without stretching it excessively.
4 Cut the knotted end of the hank, and
any other small loops of yarn secured
around the hank.
5 Place the hank over all four points of the
swift and adjust the pegs if necessary.
6 You may well have both yarn tails
hanging down from the swift. Tuck one
away so that it’s secured between the hank
and the pegs, and pull out the other yarn
tail. Loop this through the guide on the
ball winder and secure it in the slot on top.
7 Now start winding! You may find as you
work that you come across tangles or stray
loops of yarn within the hank, so don’t
wind too fast, but keep the pace steady.
8 As you work, you may notice that with
less yarn on the swift it starts to sag, so
move the pegs out to tighten up the hank.
9 Resume winding, and eventually all the
yarn will be off the swift and sitting on the
ball winder. Holding the ball securely,
pull it off the ball winder.HOW TO WIND YARN WITHOUT
USING A SWIFT AND WINDER
If you don’t have access to winding
equipment, it needn’t stop you from using
yarn in skeins. For the purposes of these
instructions, we are assuming you are
right-handed. If you are left-handed,
use your opposite hands to perform the
relevant tasks.
You will either need to place your skein
over the back of a chair, or ask a friend tohold the loop for you. The trick is to avoid
creating a really tightly wound ball, which
then stretches out the yarn too much.
Place the yarn tail across the first
two fingers of your left hand, with the
tail at the front, hanging down.
1 Using your right hand, wind the
working end of the yarn around your
fingers once, keeping your fingers slightly
spread apart. Keep doing this until you
have a small amount of yarn wound onto
your fingers. Don’t wind around lots of
yarn as it will make the next step too
tricky. About 10 winds is plenty.
2 Now you are going to turn your loop
of yarn into a ball. Carefully remove the
loops from your left fingers, holding them
tight at either end. If you accidentally
drop the loops at this point, it’s easiest
just to start again, and won’t take you
long to redo.
3 Still holding both ends of the loops,
twist one end through 180 degrees either
away or towards you (it doesn’t matter
which). This will create a figure-of-eight
shape which will become the starting
‘base’ of your yarn ball.
4 + 5 Fold the two ends of the figure-of-
eight together so that they are on top of
each other, making a neat ball. By holding
this small ball and then winding the yarn
around your fingers, you will now always
have a little ‘give’ in the yarn you’re
winding, so that the ball doesn’t get too
tight.
6 Keep winding straight until there is a
good amount of yarn around your finger
and thumb. Pull your finger and thumb
out, hold the new smaller ball at right
angles to the original position you were
winding at, and start winding again.
7 Repeat step 6, regularly changing the
angle you wind at until you have used up
all your yarn.WINDING YARN
Turn your skeins of yarn into neat balls with the minimum
of stress, by following Rosee Woodland’s top tips
The Knitter 72 Issue 154 Subscribe now at http://www.gathered.how/theknitter