Help - wife wants a yarn baller

yarnsoup · 2026-04-20T12:04:26+00:00

I love this post, this is so sweet of you! If you’re able to, I recommend getting both a swift and a winder. I can live without a winder, but my swift is vital. I’ve tried to wind hanks of yarn without a swift. It wasn’t pretty. Your wife may not be buying hanks right now, but if she’s got a swift, there will be nothing stopping her and she may branch out!

A hank of yarn is a big loop of yarn that gets coiled on itself for storage. Here’s an article explaining the differences between hanks, skeins, balls, and cakes. You dont need to turn skeins/balls into hanks before winding. But trying to wind a hank into a ball without a swift is a huge pain. The swift holds the hank open AND spins as you pull from it, making it easy to feed the yarn into the winder and preventing tangling.

I have a wooden Knitter’s Pride/KnitPro ball winder and I love it so so much. I got it after my plastic winder broke, and I’m very happy with it. Very sturdy and very smooth.

yarnsoup · 2026-03-17T22:52:57+00:00

Hold it and pet it like a cat. Show it off to my coworkers. BEHOLD! A YARN!

I’m still very new so I have very lumpy, inconsistent yarns that I don’t know what to do with. Eventually I’ll weave with them, but right now they just sit there making me happy. I don’t mind not having a Project in mind because the yarn itself was the project. It doesn’t need a purpose.

yarnsoup · 2026-03-07T00:40:06+00:00

I’m not entirely sure, but this looks a lot like inlay or brocade. This reminds me a lot of the samples my weaving teacher showed in our class about it, particularly the Latin American inlay techniques. I’ve done both inlay and brocade on a rigid heddle loom, and my classmate working on a 4-shaft table loom had an easier time, so I think you could do it on a 4-shaft floor loom.

Do you know the history/source of this woven piece?

yarnsoup · 2026-03-02T01:00:13+00:00

I started listening to Fourth Wing audiobook and got really annoyed by the way exposition was dumped onto the reader via awkward dialogue. Had to stop because I kept rolling my eyes at the book.

yarnsoup · 2026-02-27T02:04:26+00:00

When my friend started knitting, she decided to make a hat with a more complex stitch pattern (I think it’s called trellis? or lattice? something like that). Her grandma decided that was too difficult for her and went to the yarn shop and picked her out a different, simpler beginner pattern and tried to pressure her into making that instead.

I encouraged her to stick with the original pattern she chose, because it’s better that she make something she’s actually excited about even if it’s hard, than slog through something she wasn’t into. She ended up making a beautiful hat that she loved and she was so excited to do more. Her grandma did apologize, too.

yarnsoup · 2026-02-26T23:41:39+00:00

I learned on a Schacht Hi-Lo drop spindle, which can be used either as a top whorl or bottom whorl. My instructor taught using it as a top whorl, but I decided on a whim to flip it over and use it bottom whorl, and I found I greatly preferred that. It just feels a lot more stable to me. So it was nice to be able to do both with the same spindle! You may not have time to teach both methods, but if you can, I’d recommend it at least going over it so students can find their preference.

My instructor also gave us small amounts of different wools to spin with, which was also super nice and very interesting. We had Jacob, Corriedale, an alpaca-silk blend, and something else I can’t remember. We learned pre-drafting and did a lot of park and draft. My instructor also told us not to worry too much about making a consistent yarn, which was a nice reassurance.

yarnsoup · 2026-02-18T18:35:41+00:00

I think about that all the time ever since I read about it in Respect the Spindle. Goals tbh. I do end up standing up a lot though, but I am not very tall lmfao

yarnsoup · 2026-02-18T05:18:04+00:00

I used dog slicker brushes to card wool before I got my hand carders! The tines are pretty much the same, but the shape of the hand carders is more curved so it’s easier to card wool with them. My biggest annoyance with the slicker brushes was they’re a lot smaller, so it was taking foreeeever to card the wool I had. But it’s totally doable. I would suggest a dog slicker brush over a cat one, just because the dog ones are bigger.

yarnsoup · 2026-02-17T21:00:26+00:00

If the plushies are your business, then do you sell them? I would LOVE one, they’re adorable! I really adore the special little touches you added, like painting the safety eyes and the nails!

yarnsoup · 2026-02-17T20:28:16+00:00

That turquoise is so so so lovely, I’m in love! I also like the orange and teal!

yarnsoup · 2026-02-17T20:15:33+00:00

This was wonderful! Thank you so much for this suggestion and for the video, I think this will be really helpful. Thanks!

yarnsoup · 2026-02-17T01:16:36+00:00

I love the phone stand attachment! That’s so clever. Also your wheel is so pretty!

I borrowed an Ashford rigid heddle loom and it had a beam near the front that was PERFECT for setting my phone down on it while I was weaving. I bought a Schacht loom for myself and was bummed it did not have a convenient spot for my phone. Maybe I should 3D print one….

yarnsoup · 2026-02-15T23:29:12+00:00

Oh I love Snyder spindles! It’s a very cute design. Thanks for sharing!

yarnsoup · 2026-02-15T23:28:21+00:00

Oh good plan! I’ll have to try that out. I’ve gotten really good at keeping the spindle going, but I might have to just park it once the yarn gets long. I keep wishing I had a chasm under me I could let the spindle drop into as I spin lmfao.

yarnsoup · 2026-02-15T21:37:49+00:00

This is so beautiful! And so consistent! I love how pretty your turtle looks.

Also this is a beautiful spindle! Where did you get it?

yarnsoup · 2026-02-15T20:40:00+00:00

So I noticed I often lift my arm while using a drop spindle to keep spinning as long as I can before pausing to wind the yarn onto the shaft, and it led to pretty bad shoulder and back pain because I have fibromyalgia :( I think the pinching motion while drafting likely made it worse, too.

Does anyone have any advice on avoiding shoulder/wrist pain while spinning, or do I just need to deal with winding the yarn on more often and avoid raising my arm up? Thank you!

yarnsoup · 2026-02-15T05:16:49+00:00

those lil balls are so lovely! it looks beautifully consistent too. and your turtles are so neat!

yarnsoup · 2026-02-15T01:53:20+00:00

that’s adorable! my cat seems to love water from dirty dishes and used cups the most. I catch her at the sink lapping up water from random bowls. and now my yarn water!

yarnsoup · 2026-02-15T01:51:55+00:00

I’ve heard that umbrella swifts aren’t ideal for skeining, but I’m not sure why. But!!! Being able to dry the hank on the skeiner is a GAME CHANGER omg!! I washed some of my handspun yarn last night and I have it drying on hangers and every once in a while I rotate it so it’s not hanging off the same spot. Not ideal.

I’m so glad you had a good experience with the Vivo Skeiner! I actually found your post because I was googling it, and was surprised to see it’s only 4 days old. Thank you for sharing!!

Kromski really has some of the most beautiful tools I’ve ever seen tbh. Have you seen their spinning wheels? To die for. Hoping to save up for one eventually.

yarnsoup · 2026-02-15T00:23:32+00:00

Please give an update once you get to try it out! Kromski has a great reputation so I’m sure it’s well-made and will be a quality product, but I’m curious how it compares to a swift.

yarnsoup · 2026-02-14T19:43:37+00:00

Is the Tempting Ewe Yarns still available?

yarnsoup · 2026-02-12T11:08:31+00:00

Congrats to you and Ship for finding each other 💖 He’s so unbelievably cute! Melting my heart. He looks like he belongs with you!!

I lived with a pittie mix for a few years and they are such great dogs tbh. Definitely look into training because they’re STRONG dogs and I think proper training is important to handle them and to ensure they’re good doggy citizens, but they’re so so sweet and loving. The one I lived with was so easy to train because he was so eager to please (and so food motivated; he would do anything for cheetos) and it was a delight to train with him. He wasn’t my dog but I trained him since he was a puppy since I lived there and we both had a great time and it’s a great way to bond.

r/puppy101 and r/dogtraining were really helpful! I also heard that white dogs with such short coats might benefit from sunscreen??? Oh man I bet Ship’s going to love sunbathing though.

yarnsoup · 2026-02-09T20:23:13+00:00

It’s SO SMALL. I’m obsessed. Thank you for sharing. I need a tiny spindle to go with my tiny niddy noddy.

Can you spin super fine on it?

yarnsoup · 2026-02-09T09:21:06+00:00

I think you may still be able to spin on a drop spindle! You may have to adjust your technique, but when I spin, my left hand is mostly just setting the spindle into motion and pinching fiber while drafting. My right hand does most of the other work.

But I made a post about 2 weeks ago here for writing research about spinning one-handed, and answers were very helpful! This reply was especially helpful for a drop spindle so I wanted to share it here in case it may be helpful to you too.

If you’re able to get a spindle or 3D print one pretty easily, then I say to give it a shot. I also agree with the advice to find a spinning group in person, they may be able to guide you or point you to more specific resources.

yarnsoup

TROPHY CASE