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. 😀