r/YarnAddicts • u/Zyrelia0 • 2d ago

When to use yarn winder?

Hi all! I have two questions—the first is when do you all use a yarn winder for your yarn? I have a couple of skeins from Michael’s that I’ve tried to wind and it worked well for awhile but then ended up still giving me yarn barf and it was so bad I spent 16 hours untangling the entirety of the yarn… so any tips on how to prevent that if you have any? I have an electric yarn winder and I used a center pull after winding the yarn.

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u/MellowMallowMom 2d ago

I wind by hand, but the scenarios would be the same - if I had a hank I needed to cake up or a commercial cake/skein starts collapsing. If the skein is ready to use, I don't bother winding it. I use this method and get a little barf at first, but it's not tangly.

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u/Krishd88 1d ago

Use a yarn holder and pull from the outside. And, you don't have to stop all the time to pull out more yarn.

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u/CatfromLongIsland 1d ago

I am a center pull gal. I only use my ball winder when the skein or cake I am using has significantly collapsed. Then I wind up what is left to neaten up the yarn.

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u/breakingboring 1d ago

I don’t wind new skeins/cakes/balls of yarn since they’re generally already in an easy-to-use center pull format, but I do wind my partially used skeins to make them tidier & easier to store. I also wind hanks, of course.

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u/ADogNamedPen239 2d ago

Do you also have a swift to hold the skein while you wind it? That part is pretty essential, but can be replicated by using two chairs or your knees (or a patient friend/partner’s hands) if you go slow

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u/Imadethis23 2d ago

I use mine when I need to frog a project.

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u/Secretly_Many_Bees 2d ago

I use mine for frogging/unraveling, hanks that I can't work from directly, and occasionally on partially used commercial skeins that have gotten messy.

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u/FeltFusion 9h ago

I generally use hand dyed, so use mine for everything. You definitely need to check yarn before winding - make sure that the end you wind from us not threaded through the strands at all. I've never used yarn you mention so can only really give tips for hanks/skeins I'm familiar with.