In the third in our mini-series on winding yarn, we look at how to quickly wind the perfect ball of cake of yarn using a ball winder and swift. If your yarn has come in a skein, you will need to wind it into a ball before you start working with it or you risk creating a huge tangled mess! A swift and ball winder are a great investment if you need to wind more than the occasional ball.

If you don’t have either of these pieces of equipment, you can still wind your yarn! See How to Wind a Ball of Yarn by Hand.

First things first: What is a ball winder/yarn swift?

A ball winder is a piece of equipment that clamps onto your table or desk and allows you to quickly wind yarn into a centre pull ball ready to knit or crochet with. The most common (and affordable) ball winders are made from plastic, although it its also possible to get wooden ones.

In order to use a ball winder, you also need a yarn swift. The yarn swift folds out a bit like an umbrella, and its job is to hold the skein of yarn open and feed it to the ball winder. It also clamps onto your table or desk and spins around as the yarn winds off it.

It is not possible to use a ball winder without a yarn swift, but you can use a yarn swift to hold your skein while you make a ball either by hand or using a nostepinne. So if you’re going to invest in just one piece of equipment, go for the yarn swift.

Step 1: Set up the equipment

Start by clamping both the ball winder and the yarn swift to a table. They should be around 30-50cm apart and you may wish to use a tablecloth or pad to protect the surface.

Set up the winder and swift approx 30-50cm apart

Step 2: Put the skein on the swift

Open out your skein of yarn and ensure that it isn’t twisted. Then start to open the swift by raising the knob at the base of the pole. The arms will start to extend. As they do, slide the skein onto the swift and continue to open it up until the skein is open and not slack on the swift. Finally tighten the bolt on the swift to lock it in place.

Next locate the ends of the yarn and undo or cut any of the ties that are holding it (there will normally be three or four ties spaced around the skein). Choose which end of the yarn you want to wind from - one might be more on the outside than the other. Tuck the other end under the skein so that it isn’t hanging down otherwise it can wrap around the swift as it turns.

Place the skein onto the yarn swift and remove the ties

Step 3: Attach the yarn to the ball winder

Take the loose end of the yarn and feed it through the metal arm on the ball winder. Then put it through the notch on the top. You will probably need to hold it in place as you start turning the handle, until the yarn has wound over itself a couple of times and it stays in place. As you turn the handle on the ball winder, the swift will start to spin round.

Step 4: Wind the yarn

Keep turning the handle on the ball winder. Make sure that you go at a steady speed (not too fast as this will result in a tight cake of yarn and unnecessary pressure on the ball winder). Use your free hand to guide the yarn off the swift if necessary - it’s easy for it to become caught on the arms as it unwinds. You should see a neat cake of yarn building up on the winder.

Keep winding until you run out of yarn on the swift, then gently slide the cake of yarn off the winder. The hole in the middle will close up, and you can either use the yarn from the outside or from the centre. I like to secure the outer strand of yarn with a knot before I take the cake off the winder, and then knit from the centre.