Umbrella Swifts/Skein Winders

[deneen]

Anyone have any links to reasonably priced ones. I need it for the laceweight hanks and am trying to find one reasonable (okay, I'm cheap!).

[Dejhia]

I did some compairson shopping before Xmass this year for a ball winder and swift. ( My dad bought my mom them for Xmass, lucky lady. ) The Best Prices I found were at Knitting Warehouse. They have two differnt Ball winders one for $27. and one for $40. And the swift is $48. I don't know the differances between the two winders so I can't help you pick there. I know that my dad bought my mom the cheeper one so that he could also get her the swift, and she loves them.

[natalie058]

I've been ogling the one on the JA's site, which I'm sure you've already seen. It's on sale right now, but I was pondering using one of the 40% or 50% coupons awhile back. The reviews on this one are nice, which is really encouraging, cuz the picture sucks.

[megan]

The more expensive one linked to above is the same one that Joann's sells; I have it, and it's fabulous. I've used the swift/winder combo at four different LYS's, and they all had that winder also, so it's probably pretty sturdy.

 

I want a swift badly; it's a pain to wind laceweight without one. The price on the one above looks great!

[jenuine226]

I have that yarn winder (the $40 one that you linked to, Heather); I got it from Joanns. It works pretty well. I also have this swift: http://www.joann.com/catalog.jhtml?CATID=82324&PRODID=80807&source=search I also bought the swift from Joanns. It has gone up in price since I bought it from the Joanns website; when I bought the swift, it was on sale for $40 too. It is very sturdy and works very well. When I was looking at swifts, I also came across some metal ones, but I was a little skeptical about them being as sturdy as the wooden ones. Some metal swifts can be found on eBay for as low as $30. But again, I don't know if they will hold up as well as the wooden ones...

[deneen]

Thanks for all the input. I am putting off this purchase until the wool swap is done. I have been charging stuff like crazy lately.

[goldi316]

I have the winder, got it (from JoAnns, combined with a 40% coupon) as my bday present from my daughter last year. My Christmas present from her was a $40 gc from JoAnns, which I will be using for the swift as soon as I have another 40% off coupon to apply. I'm chomping at the bit as I have a bunch of laceweight waiting to be wound...

 

Wish these things were available in the local stores, or I'd already have the swift, and avoid the shipping charge.

[sunshine1977]

I am seriously thinking about getting one of the metal ones...My favorite LYS has two of them - one behind the counter that the ladies use to wind customers' yarn for them and one out in the store where customers can wind their own yarn...Both seem to have held up very well - even the one out in the store that is used by people who really don't know what they are doing and that is accessable to children! The wooden ones are beautiful, but I don't know if I can justify spending that much on something that I won't use on a regular basis...Would rather save and little and buy more yarn!

 

Laurie:hook

[Dejhia]

Well, it's nice to hear what everyone has. I hope that I will be able to afford at least a ball winder this year, but I doubt it. Sounds like I should check in with you all about the differnt ball winders before I buy since the websites don't give anything to tell the differnace between the differnt models.

 

I am glad that the research I did for my mom's Xmass present could be of use to someon else. (My dad knows almost nothing about yarn so he tells me the general idea of what he wants to do for my mom or how much he wants to spend, and I get to do the shopping for her. )

[threeolivemartini]

i am in love with these kind of swifts..and here is another source