Friday, May 20, 2011

Beauty Ball Winder


A friend brought this ball winder over to see if Doug could fix it.  Turned out the fix was fairly simple and he had it repaired in just a few minutes.  I decided to test it to make sure it was working before returning it.

Well, talk about a little hotshot!  This thing turns so fast I could not wind a skein of a two ply wool off the squirrel cage swift because it went zero to 60 in a second!  Metaphoricly speaking.  Anyway, the wool was too weak to withstand the blast off start on the swift so I wound it onto a spool and then into a ball from the spool, which did work.

I think the winder would actually work best winding balls from tubes or cones rather than skeins because of the high speed.

It also looks like it would do fairly large balls.  The skein was about 100 grams or 3.5 ounces or so and it looks like the winder could possibly do 8 ounce balls.

It looks quite old - only has a two prong and very light weight cord.  The label says Studio Yarn Farms, Seattle Wa and is very faded.  Anyone heard about these ball winders?  It's the first time I've seen one like this.....

Currently reading Spider Web by Earlene Fowler

5 comments:

Jenny Bellairs said...

Maybe Doug could install a rheostat dial or slider on it, so the speed could be varied.

Laura Fry said...

Since the winder isn't mine we won't be doing that although we discussed that a rheostat would probably help. :)
cheers,
Laura

Anonymous said...

I have one exactly like this. There is also a post of one on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGxaN_NVMrc

sarindustries said...
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Mikkel Pontus said...

Your post is a yarn enthusiast's dream. Yarn cakes are not only practical but also visually pleasing. Your instructions for making them with a yarn ball winder are clear and inspiring. Can't wait to start winding! ๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿงต #CraftingSolutions