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Norwich, United Kingdom
I'm Susan and I live in a small village north of Norwich, UK. My main hobbies are reading, gardening, spinning and knitting, though not necessarily in that order....

Wednesday 14 January 2009

The invention is revealed



Remember Neil's invention to wind/wash a skein of yarn? Well version 3 is up and running and working great. A great improvement from version 1 which was made from a bent coathanger.

Firstly he made a heavy wooden block which holds a specially made metal skein winder. You turn the handle and can wind your spun yarn either from a spindle (holes in the wooden block to hold a spindle) or from a spinning wheel. I find it easier to wind with the bobbin on the lazy kate.

You can then wash the yarn on the metal winder to set the twist, and then dry it. This time of year the radiator comes in handy.


Once dry, you can then return the metal winder to the wooden block. My mum gave me a ball winder she had from the 1970's when she had a knitting machine, and I think they still make that model now.

You can attach the ball winder to the wooden block and away you go.... works wonderfully and no more twisted skeins.

This yarn is from the Jacob's fleece I purchased for £5 and I'm going to use it to knit another drawstring bag, this time for my mum.

The photo makes the colours look brown but it is in fact a black/white ply.

4 comments:

LDSVenus said...

That is pretty slick!!! Maybe he could write up instructions with dimensions etc, and sell the instructions. :) It looks very cool, you could stain it to match your wheel :).

theShizzKnit said...

Your mister is a genius! I'm sold. Chalk me up for one. I've been looking for a tool that does just this exact thing, keep the yarn organized in rows so that it unwinds in an orderly fashion. I'll be happy to be your first customer.

Sheena said...

Lucky girl! That is so cool. I think he is on to something.

Janey said...

Can I add my appreciation for this contraption ... what a great idea!
I never get such neatly wound yarn - and a centre pull ball at that! - when I use DH to wind a skein.

I am volunteering myself, Venus, Shizz and Sheena to be testers of your DH's instructions. (As long as that is OK with the other three.)

Janey
janeyknitting AT yahoo DOT ca