Reddit reviews Stanwood Needlecraft Wooden Umbrella Swift Yarn Winder - Medium
We found 8 Reddit comments about Stanwood Needlecraft Wooden Umbrella Swift Yarn Winder - Medium. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Premium QualityMade of Finely Finished BirchMedium SizeSpins SmoothlyHolds up to a 6' Circumference Skein
I just recently "upgraded" my yarn winder as my last one was complete shite. This is my new and greatly improved 10 oz. Yarn Winder
How is it better than my old 4 oz you ask? Well let me tell you my friend :-P
1.) It's so QUIET
2.) It's such a joy to "crank" the handle I can't explain how pleasurable it is to wind on this machine. It's just so smooth. Also, it has never jammed or made a terribly grinding sound like my last plastic one.
3.) It has 2 guiding arms. One is adjustable and the other, and this is the best part, it moves around the cone at the same time as the cone is spinning while you crank. This is such a cool design! It creates the most perfect tension!
4.) Huge skeins into mega-cakes in only a few minutes.
5.) I have wound a bunch of skeins and unlike my old one, I have never had a problem with the yarn wrapping around or slipping down around the gear portion. I think it's due to the extra "guide arm."
In sum, I should have just bought this one to begin with! Oh, and this is my yarn swift which I also love and it is a fine piece of equipment.
You certainly don't need a yarn winder. There's nothing wrong with winding by hand. But a yarn winder is one of those luxury items that, once you have, you can't imagine ever going back to living without one. At least I can't. The benefits are, of course, that you can wind a skein of Red Heart Super Saver (using this example as a source of familiarity) in about three or four minutes, or even faster, depending on the speed of your guns (arms, ha). If you've got a project that's about to use multiple skeins, being able to wind everything up into easily manageable yarn cakes in a matter of minutes is indispensable if you're as impatient as I am. And there are multiple benefits to having the cakes. Storage purposes ranks pretty high on my list. Ease of use is also big - no more having to deal with an incredibly stubborn knot rearing its ugly head out of a center pull skein when I've got a project hot on the hooks. And there can't be enough said about pre-winding your yarn, in the first place. It's like a getting acquainted period - between you and your yarn. I don't know how many times I've been working on a project with yarn I haven't fully gone through and right in the worst spot possible there's an ugly as hell join and now I've got to figure out how to deal with it mid-WIP. If you wind everything up before hand, you're actually touching the entire skein before you work with it, and you can use this opportunity to check for knots or problem areas - allowing you to plan way ahead, before you've even started working. I'm sure they're other awesome benefits to a winder, but these are my big three.
The first winder I bought was this one off of Amazon for around $30. It arrived damaged - the spindle was cracked right out of the box. I know lots of people have this winder and have great things to say about it, but I figured if I was going to spend the money, I may as well get something that was going to last. So I saved up for a few months and ended up buying this Stanwood Needlecraft and I freaking.love.it. It's... a beast. Just a beast. I can wind an entire skein of RHSS on it without having to split it in two. And there's no plastic, so it's incredibly smooth and quiet. I've had it for almost a year now, and I use it at least every other day. I've had zero problems with it. I would recommend this winder to anyone, no matter how long you have to save. It's worth the pennies, even though there's a lot of them.
You might want to look into a swift, in addition to your winder. You use a swift in conjunction with your winder to cake up those gorgeous hanks. I purchased this one from Amazon and it's been wonderful.
Here's a quick little video showing you how to use a yarn winder and a swift.
Hope this helps!
Definitely a swift and a ball winder! They allow you to easily take yarn that's sold in a loose skein and wind it into a "cake" that doesn't get tangled as you knit it. That's a very tedious process to do by hand (and usually requires a helper), and means that she can branch out into buying different yarn. I have this winder (that's worked well for at lest 10 years) and a wooden umbrella swift like this one.
A good project bag is really awesome, I recommend the ones from Slipped Stitches Studio for their excellent quality and lots of pockets. A medium sized bag is versatile.
People tend to have a lot of preferences about needles, and the different kinds are suited to different types of projects and yarn. So unless she's asked for an interchangeable needle set, I'd probably focus on other things. However, I will second the recommendation for Chiaogoo needles, they're my favorite.
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My other suggestion is a bit more labor intensive but would be very thoughtful - a personalized knitting notions kit:
What they said! ^^ I got it for Christmas this last year. I believe I got gifted this one from Amazon. I've used it to untangle my frogging messes, and for winding skeins into pretty little ball blobs.
And in case anyone wants to see, here's what I've managed so far.
Some were balls that I unwound on to the swift and then rewound, some were loose, center-pull cakes, some were center-pull skeins, some were normal skeins. In every case...I am happy.
And also for those interested, both the swift and the winder are Stanwoods.
I love my Stanwood swift. Works well and is not going to break the bank.
I just bought this one for myself and it's so amazing! It works like a dream and can make a nice big cake.
I had so much fun the day it came in! It took a bit to get used to how to coordinate to make it as smooth a process as possible but it really has made rolling yarn so fun and fast.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0078T6KQY?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_yo_pop_mb_pd_t2
This is the swift I've asked for Xmas. Haven't used it but I found the reviews convincing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000IG1I8O/?coliid=I3IASUJR0TQZ93&colid=9OZ9DLU4OTV2&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
This one is good, and cheaper than the one on Knit picks.