I want to get home SWIFTly!

Because I'm so excited about receiving my yarn ball winder & swift.

Last week, I was thinking of the tangle of partly used yarn I had at home as well as the skeins I had that weren't in workable balls and in hanks. With the move coming I thought 2 things, I could buy the swift and ball winder now and organize my yarn into nice packable containers (think the plastic a quilt or sheet set comes in with the zipper top) or I can wait till we get there, because the swift and ball winder are 2 less things I'll need to bring along.

Well ... once perusing the Joann.com website and seeing that the ball winder was already on sale for $23 due to a special, I thought to jump on it. The also had a 50% off a single item coupon. Unfortunately, you can't use it on sale items. So that meant I could buy the ball winder on sale for $23 and buy the swift at 50% off. I figured, why the heck not! So I clicked buy! And they were on their way.

I just received them here in my office and the packaging is amazingly small for these 2 items.

I purchased this ball winder for a few reasons. The 1st was that it was the cheapest. I'm not a professional. I only have so many balls of yarn that need winding. I buy skeins instead of balls rarely. And my main use for it will be for when I have left over yarn from projects and need them rewound tightly.

The reviews are generally good but there are a few bad ones. The main cons are the exposed gears and the cheap materials used to construct this. I honestly think it will be fine. I'm not winding balls of yarn each week... even month... let alone each day to need something that is made for professional or commercial use.

In order to use a ball winder, you also need a swift. I chose to buy this Amish Style Swift from Joann. Also because it's inexpensive, but mostly because it collapses into almost nothing and is a table top swift. Which means I can use it on any flat surface. The reviews were all good... and the main point in all of them is that it gets the job done. That's exactly what I need. Something simple that gets it done. Nothing fancy or overly complicated.

One day I may have a craft room with a dedicated counter for such items, but until then, these simple tools should do the trick! And hopefully they will last me ages.

I'll be sure to hook them up and ball a skein or two tonight... and I'll be back tomorrow to write you a nice little review!

You may click on the pictures for the hyperlink to the Joann website to read further about these products.