Swift

This week I got a new yarn toy. We needed to go to Spokane again this weekend which meant another trip to Paradise Fibers. I have had my eye on a yarn swift, but didn't know how much I really wanted one until I tried to roll a ball of yarn from a hank. Just when I was over halfway through, I ended up with a huge knot and it took forever to roll it. For those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, a hank of yarn is basically a huge loop of yarn that is twisted upon itself. For example, these are hanks:

Sometimes yarn is sold in this form, but it is also the way the yarn ends up after I spin it. It needs to be in this form for dyeing as well. Once you are ready to use the yarn it must be rolled into a ball, otherwise it will tangle, and will turn into a huge mess! A swift is a tool that holds the loop of yarn while you roll it and prevents the yarn from tangling. The one that I got is the Paradise Fibers Super Swift II.

I have mentioned the Masham yarn that I dyed maroon in a few previous posts. It got to be the first hank on the swift.

Once I found the start of the yarn, I hooked it up to my ball winder and started winding. As the ball winder spins, it turns the swift and the yarn smoothly moves from a hank into a ball.

And voila! It is ready to be knit!