The Tilta Swift works for skein sizes up to about 80”.
I bought my gripper pad, clothespins, and heavy-duty plastic hangers at the dollar store, and the 4-inch-square box from The UPS Store. Ace Hardware has the Rubbermaid Lazy Susan for $7, or you can get a beautiful bamboo Lazy Susan for $10 at Target. If you have to buy everything, it's about $13 plus tax. (I already had the Lazy Susan, hangers, elastic, clothespins, and gripper pad, so I actually spent less than $1.50, just for the mailing box.)
Materials
4 heavy duty plastic hangers, $2
1 gripper pad, $1 for four (you only need 1)
1 Lazy Susan, $7
4"x4"x4" mailing box from USPS or UPS store, about $1.25; this is the specialized equipment.
1/2 yard 1/4" elastic, cut into two 9" pieces, less than $1
12 spring-loaded clothespins, less than $1
Step 1: Use the elastic to tie the hangers tightly together in 2 spots.
Step 2: Fold the box. Do the “flap-1 over flap-2”, “flap-2 over flap-3”, “flap-3 over flap-4”, “flap-4 over flap-1” thing for the bottom of the box. Fold the top 4 flaps into the box. Notice how sturdy this turns out, and at the same time notice how nicely this will fold back down when you need to put it back into your knitting bag.
Step 3: Fan out the hangers, and stuff the tied hanger necks into the box.
Step 4: Put 2 clothespins at each box corner. This stabilizes the clothes hangers.
Step 5: Hang 4 clothespins at the end of the 4 hangers. This keeps the yarn from slipping off the clothes hangers.
Step 6: Stack the hanger assembly on the gripper pad on the Lazy Susan. (The gripper pad and gravity keep the hanger assembly in place.)
The first picture shows a 60” skein
The second picture shows a 46” skein.
Overachievers Step 7 (Optional): I dunno, maybe hang micro sock monkeys from it. I leave this entirely up to inspiration. (Am I the only one whom this reminds of a carnival ride?)
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37 comments:
Fantastic! I was close to getting a swift, but had a hard time justifying the cost - this looks like a great solution. Thank you~!
Absolute genius!
Very clever!
how terrific is this! can't wait to make one- setting up my swift is a pain....
YES! Awsome! You are brilliant! My feet and arms get so tired winding balls! all I need is the lazy susan! Now just design me a 5 dollar ball winder ;)
Hey, Webecca! Do ya know that your invention "Tilt-a-Swift" is being discussed/referred to on the Knitter's Review Forum? Incredible! My motto, "Necessity is the Mother of Invention" really applies here! A little reminiscence from my late teens: Several of my friends and I used to go to San Francisco's Chinatown for dinner now and then. We'd then walk over to the little park nearby (Washington Park, I think it was called). One piece of playground equipment was a large steel disk that had been divided into 4ths (or 6ths?) with steel pipes for the children to hang onto. Ennyway, my friends would apply one principal of physics to keep the merry-go-round spinning: centrifugal force. We'd get right up to the center post, and then on the count of one-two, 3-4, 1,2,3,4 ad infinitum, take one big step back, and then immediately 3-4 forward into the center again. Oh! Did we get that thing spinning! You would take your life into your hands to try to jump off of it! Now, to the point of this little essay: Got any white rats or hamsters you might be able to get that merry-go-round (Sorry! "Swift"!) spinning?
Nice! That's the coolest thing I've seen in yonks. :) Thanks for sharing it!
Jacquelyn
What a fab idea! A great money and space saver. Only thing is we dont have UPS boxes in this country(UK) so i am now searching for an alternative. I will not be detered from my quest!
You rock! What a great idea! I swear that if the advancement of civilization was up to me we'd be lucky to be living in caves, at this point!
My hubby and kids are thanking you, too! (For some strange reason, no one in my home enjoys holding the arms out while I wind the skeins into a ball!?)
This is fantastic! Good job!
Cynde
What a great idea... I may need to make this for myself. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you, you're a genius! And I love the bears going for a carnival ride. Sandra Singh
Both the swifts are a great idea! This is dkswife from the Rav Blog Train!
A resounding WOWEEE!!!
Thanks for sharing! your pics are great!
What a great project. I used a freezer container for the box. It was just the right size. I wanted a swift, but space is limited. This folds up so nicely and every part can serve another purpose when not being used to wind yarn.
Thank you thank you thank you! I can now buy my yarn in hank form with confidence! Before I hated yarn that came in hanks because I didn't want to shell the coinage for a swift, but this is fabulous! Hanks all the way, and yay for winding with confidence!
Dude this is awesome! It's even easier and cheaper than the Tinkertoy swift! I'm making one today, I have a metric butt-ton of yarn to wind to finish Christmas presents!
LOL...if ever I buy a skein that needs winding when I don't have my swift, I'll have to try this!! Genius!!
Very clever!
I finally got the rest of the parts that I didn't have to make one tonight - I would recommend getting more than just the cheap Rubbermaid lazy susan (doesn't turn very well), and I also had issues with the yarn sliding up and over the top of the hangers instead of making it turn - this was easily solved by putting an extra clothespin just above the skein (so there is one above and one below). Worked like a charm! I weighted mine with a bag of sand over the hangers as well. :) Thanks for this idea!!
ok, even more stinking awesome!!!
Great idea!
Ingenious! Nothing less! Thanks for sharing!
LOL - that's amazing. I particularly like step 7 for the over achievers. :)
I adore this idea. Today I went to the hardware store and got the part you can make your own lazy susan. I'm gonna use that and it cost me only 3.99!!! I will let you know how it all works:) Thanks for this wonderful idea!!! Huggs Marion
After much research, I stumbled upon your post. Thank you for the detailed post and the wonderful pictures. I have made my own and love how it turned out. I found a bamboo Lazy Susan at Walmart for $7. Now, I'm waiting for my ball winder to arrive to give it a test spin. Thank you again...Susan
Dag nab it! Why didn't I come across this blog post a month ago, before I bought that $52 swift I found on Amazon!
Absolute fantastic. Thanks!!!
You just made my day! I mainly work with spinning fiber & don't need a swift often enough to justify purchasing one, just often enough that I wish I had one! And I have absolutely no room for one. You have solved all my swift-related problems! =D
i got 30 hangers for $4, clothespins for a $1, cut open a rubber band (aka gum band) and used a ponytail thingamabob. Got 2 poly basket thingies at Dollar tree, 2/$1, 4x4x3. just need the lazy susan thing, mine is too rigid for swiftness.
thanks for sharing!
I love this idea. My son made one for me once from Knex. It worked out ok, but had to be broken down again afterwards for him to play again.
You're the knitterly version of MacGyver. :D
Wow, I'm late to the game but this is awesome!! Who would have thought?
Ok, I know you have something great here because I have read the posts But, what is a Yarn Swift and what is it used for? I have never heard of this before.
Thanks, Stormie
Did anybody ever tell Stormy what a swift is for? I'd think the pictures would be self explanatory...
Saw this on the Crochet section of Craft Gossip and just made one of my own. I ended up using a big ceramic coffee mug instead of the box, and needed to add clothespins above the yarn to keep it from slipping up over the top. IT WORKS BRILLIANTLY! Thank you so much for sharing your genius. Off to wind a whole bunch of yarn!
P.S. here's mine
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aschemidt/4035084308/
THANK YOU for sharing your idea; you just saved me a bunch of money!
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