Thursday, August 07, 2008

Heading down the slippery slope towards the spinning wheel...

wool winder

A few months ago during one of my buying sprees, I purchased a yarn-winder. Royal pretty much has a monopoly on the market, at least here in Australia. They have a great reputation but it's a lot of money for what is essentially just a few bits of plastic and metal. I couldn't bring myself to spend even more money on a matching swift.

Other more mechanically minded crafters have made their own swifts with bits of wood and/or child's toys. I've settled for the moment for jamming skeins of yarn around my knees or across my chest as I wind.

I was a bit worried that I had essentially p*ssed away $70 on a useless gadget but I've been using it the last few nights to rewind balls of frogged yarn and it is really, really good. Not only does the yarn winder make up nice neat little cakes of yarn that stack nicely, are easy to use and are no longer being pulled out of shape due to over-tight winding, but I find the whole process of turning the handle and feeding the yarn through my fingers very, very soothing.

No wonder people get into spinning. I want to learn to spin now.

Maybe after I move to the new place.


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