Tinker Toy Swift/Mixer Winder?

[MrsLewis907]

I haven't found any mention of this here yet, so I thought I'd throw this out there. This lady made her own VERY FUNTIONAL yarn swift, simply out of tinker toys!!! Here is the link. She even had it mentioned in the Craft Magazine Blog, as well.

 

Anyways, I don't remember how I came across that yesterday, but after seeing that I wondered if you could make your own winder as well...and I came across a few people talking about how to use a mixer! Now I could do that...maybe.

 

Does anyone actually USE their mixer as a winder?? How does it work for you, and one major question I had was about the tension...does it make for tight balls, or can you control it so it doesn't stretch out your yarn??

 

:crocheting

[Addey]

I've never used my mixer for winding balls... I don't have a stand, just a hand mixer.

I do have a friend that made her own swift out of tinker toys (she has a traditional ball winder). She loves it because it comes apart and stores in a small place. She even managed to modify it to hold pre-done balls that you wanted to redo.

[MrsLewis907]

I do have a friend that made her own swift out of tinker toys...She loves it because it comes apart and stores in a small place.

 

Yes, I plan on making me one...but I have to go find the tinker toys!

 

I just really hate to wind balls, and am not too good at it, and thought I'd see if anyone actually DOES use their mixer to wind...anyone?? I can't see it being a very popular thing...

[kazily]

A stand mixer will work if you have variable speeds & keep it slow. The first time I tried it, it was winding great & then I decided to pick up the speed. DON'T

 

It worked but was not easy like a purchased winder. I eventually purchased one with a Jo Ann coupon.

[MrsLewis907]

The first time I tried it, it was winding great...It worked but was not easy like a purchased winder.

 

How was the tension? Did it make an okay ball, or did it stretch out the yarn?

 

I really want to buy a winder, but I have to wait until after Christmas...and I don't know when that will be!

[MaryPat]

I use my juicer as a winder. It's a Champion. It has a projecting bar that's easy to put a large paper towel tube onto or a yarn cone.

 

I have to protect the fingers that do the guiding because it spins so quickly that I have gotten a sort of rope burn.

 

I use it for cones of yarn that I want to make portable or some thread like yarns that I'm going to use double stranded so I need to get 1 cone split into 2 cones.