Turn a small ball winder into a big ball winder November 26, 2010

I bought a small ball winder off ebay recently. I think it’s the coolest thing ever! Now I can wind all my left over yarn into nice centre pull balls and store them neatly.

So I started to wind …… first couple of balls went ok because it was not a lot of yarn. Then, I started to wind something more and I realised that my ball winder was unable to wind a bigger ball of yarn. I don’t want to break my yarn and sometimes, I have a lot of left over yarn! I was beginning to think that I’ve wasted my money on this gadget . boo.  Oh well …. I tried to wind as much yarn into a ball anyway. Then something struck me.

When the size of the ball of yarn gets too big for the spindle to handle, the yarn overflows to the top & bottom of the ball. I thought that if I had a taller spindle, it will solve this problem.

So, here’s my make-shift spindle.

It’s the paper holder for my paper kitchen towels. LOL. Somehow, this paper tube fits the plastic spindle perfectly. Well, the paper tube has to fit your spindle firmly & securely. If it’s loose, it will fly off when you’re winding. LOL.

I made a small cut at the top of the tube with a paper cutter. This is to hold the end of the yarn before the winding starts. I slide the ball of yarn out from the paper tube after the ball of yarn is wounded up.

And now, I can wind huge balls of yarn, no problem! yay!

See the picture below for comparison of the size of the balls of yarn I can wind now. The blue tweed one is about the size that can be wound up using the original spindle. The 2 larger balls are wound using the kitchen towel paper holder. Yay for paper kitchen towel holders!

from left: 1 ball of blue tweed Sirdar Click DK yarn (50 g, 150m), less than 1 original size ball of purple Sirdar Wash n Wear Double Crepe DK yarn (original sized ball is 100g, 270m), 1 hank of El D. Mouzakis Super 10 mercerized cotton (125 gr, 220m)

When I was done winding up each ball, I cut strip of paper and write the name of the yarn (if I remember) onto the strip and label the ball. I am having so much fun winding up these little balls of yarn! I like how I can store them away by stacking them up. hehe.