Stanwood Needlecraft Large Metal Yarn/Fiber/Wool/String Ball Winder - 10 oz

A new knitter here. I wound one skein of yarn into a ball by hand and looked for a better plan! I bought both the yarn winder and the Amish swift made by Stanwood after watching a review on YouTube which compared both cheaper and more expensive models by other makers. I tried it out on two completely different yarns: Blue Sky Fibers Organic Cotton Worsted Weight, and an Etsy 100% Mulberry Silk fingering weight. It was very easy to get set up within 5 minutes and begin winding yarn. The worsted cotton wound quickly and I had the perfect yarn cake at the end. I did 5 cakes without a hitch. The fingering weight silk did begin to wind around the top of the bobbin for a few turns but I think this is user error. The cake turned out to be perfectly useable. Although the notched gears are not covered, I saw little chance that my yarn would be exposed to them or get tangled in them. A non-issue as far as I can tell. Both tools feel well made and sturdy. The place I buy yarn charges $4 per skein wound and the price of this equipment was reasonable enough that after two projects’ worth of yarn it will have paid for itself. Did I mention it is FUN to watch the yarn wind up all neat and tidy while the swift flies around like a windmill? Even my dogs are fascinated!

I have had no experience with yarn winders and hesitated to spend top-of-the-line dollars without experience. I am so glad I did. This is a sturdy, heavy-duty winder, and it is so easy to use. Right out of the box, I successfully assembled it in just a few moments. I immediately wound a semi-used skein about to be a major tangle problem, and it wound smooth as silk. I am feeling an addiction coming on. Great product!

The bulk of the noise in my video is my husband clanking around in the kitchen. this winder is not really louder than the cheap plastic counterparts that swivel the entire spindle in the air. I bought it because I have had difficulty with both my cheap plastic winder and my expensive wooden winder, winding balls of fine fingering, and lace yarns. I make lace shawls and need to wind silk, and cashmere and mohair yarns that are extremely fine. I watched all of the videos about this winder and decided to shell out the hefty price to get it and give it a try. This winder is made in America and is extremely solid, so it seems like it will last a long time. They have a good customer service department in place, and offer replacement parts for the spindles and the cogs; which is why I was interested in it. For my very first test, I opted for a lace weight pure silk thread. On both of my other winders, these very fine threads somehow slip down around the base of the spindle and get tangled up, causing me to have to unwind several feet, sometimes yards, of thread, and carefully start over, IF I catch it that is. This winder was blazingly fast and sucked up my silk yarn in a heartbeat! It wound smoothly and completely with no tangles or slippage. I am very impressed. Some people have complained about the loudness, but it's not that loud. It's not as quiet as my belt driven wooden winder, but it's about as loud as the plastic one I first started with. Actually, my wooden tabletop yarn swift is louder! This winder is so fast, for the first time ever, my wooden swift 'threw' a peg! I may have to get a sturdier swift to keep up with this thing. The 800 yd ball shown in the picture was done very quickly and neatly, but since it's silk, it's a very small ball as yarn goes. You can see that the winder is capable of creating very large cakes of yarn, and it can handle very bulky yarns as well. Good product, great company, happy customer!

[Photo: Cake of 608-yard Lily Sugar'n Cream Big Ball 100% cotton yarn in Emerald Isle, wound in under 10 minutes.] I haven’t been knitting long, but long enough to know that winding a 400yd skein of yarn by hand is as close to the definition of “tedious” as anything I’ve ever come across. I usually buy yarn in skeins (not hanks), and while skeins technically don't have to be wound into balls or cakes like hanks do, I find doing so reduces the chance of getting things tangled beyond repair. There were many different winders that all had very good reviews, though I suspect the joy of switching to a winder after doing it manually probably makes many reviewers overvalue the quality of the winder itself. I wanted a model that I could use for even the largest amounts of yarn I've ever bought—the Lily Sugar ’n Cream Big Ball (608yd) shown in the picture—yet still work well for winding up remnants and small skeins. I was ready to select a similar model from Royal when I found this one. Many, many reviews for several different winders made note of the noise produced by winders with metal gears (something like an eggbeater, I would imagine, or even louder). I often work late at night when the rest of the world is asleep, so metal gears were not ideal. When I came across this Stanwood model with nylon gears, I decided to try it. When I unpacked the box, I found a high-quality winder that was easy to assemble using only a regular Phillips screwdriver to attach the outer arm. I bolted it down to the table and tried it out with one of my pitifully hand-rolled balls that I had been working from, and I found that it was a little tight and difficult to turn the crank. That was easily fixed by loosening a screw at the bottom of the core, according to the included instruction sheet. When I did that, it worked beautifully. All my old balls were quickly turned into cakes. Then I started another skein of 608yd cotton yarn, which I was able to wind in under 10 minutes. Yes, five minutes compared to well over an hour by hand! I have found that it's often helpful to wind a cake twice. The first time I do so, the tension tends to vary as I move the yarn from the store-bought skein to the winder, especially toward the end of the skein where it likes to tangle. The second time I wind it, it winds up evenly and beautifully since it's coming from the center of the cake I wound in the first stage. Simply holding the yarn taught (not tight) between the fingers of my left hand and cranking with my right, it takes no time at all to get a cake that's beautiful enough for any wedding. ;-) I've wound various yarns in DK (3), worsted (4), bulky (5), and super bulky (6) weights, made of 100% wool, 100% acrylic, 100% cotton, and wool/acrylic blends. I haven't had any problems with any of them. Working from them couldn't be easier. When you've finished winding, find some way of securing the outer end (tuck it under another strand, wrap it with something, etc) before you remove it, then HOLD THE END in the center while pulling the whole cake up off the core. If you don't hold the center, it tends to fall down through and (maybe) come out the bottom instead. You'll probably have a small amount of yarn at the beginning that sort of "sticks out" the top, but provided you pull from the center, you'll go through that in no time and it will be nice and uniform thereafter. The cakes store neatly, don't roll around everywhere, and are a breeze to work from. I believe this winder will last for a very long time, and there's nothing about it I dislike. It does its job quickly, quietly, and easily.

I just received this Standwood Yarn Winder and I'm very very happy with it. It was easy to use, only one piece to assemble and it wound a worsted weight 100gr/3.5 oz skein into a "cake" of yarn into about 2 minutes. The gears and mechanisms are very smooth. (Yes, the technical term is a "cake" of yarn. Fine by me - I love a good cake!) I had bought another yarn winder, a VTECH (ASIN: B00DKW9F6A) which was cheaper - $20.00 - but the arm (the "distal" wire arm) that is supposed to feed the yarn to the bobbin would not stay up. The yarn kept getting caught in the gears. I returned it. (FYI - returning things shipped by Amazon is very easy. You just repack it, print out the return info and put it with the box. Amazon arranges for UPS to pick it up. UPS puts the actual return label on the package. And I received my refund almost immediately.) Before I bought this Standwood I watched a video on YOUTUBE which shows how to use it. After watching this I decided it was a well made machine worth the price - my total was $65.92 with tax. Here's the link to the video. I suggest you watch before you buy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8hWprCmJ_I&list=PLSiuNuWv7q4xEEaKACQm--KJZfVYrS5jc&index=75 PROS: The only assembly is having to lock on the "distal" arm. Easy. It's a well made sturdy machine. It does make large "cakes" of yarn (the VTECH I had bought first did not) and it does it quickly. On other winders the yarn winds directly from the feeder wire (the "distal" arm) onto the bobbin. But the Stanwood has another wire arm called the "proximal" arm which spins around the bobbin as you crank the machine. This keeps the yarn away from the gears. See the image above - the wire arm on the left is the "distal" arm and the one of the right is the "proximal" arm. CONS: The instructions that came with the winder could be better. The YOUTUBE video I listed above has better info. NOTE: Most yarn winders are made to be used with swifts. Swifts hold a hank of yarn and sit higher than the winder and so feed the yarn from above. The loop on the "distal" arm is made with this in mind. You can see from the picture above that the end of the loop points down. I wasn't using a swift but was winding a cake from a manufacturer skein (these always end up tangling which is why I purchased this winder). When the yarn being fed to the "distal" arm is below it the yarn can slip partly out of the loop. I initially held up the yarn to keep it in the "distal" loop. But the faster you go the better the yarn stays in the loop. SUGGESTION: The winder comes with a little piece of plastic that sits between the machine and the crank which stops it from moving during shipping. KEEP THIS. It's helpful to keep the crank in place when you are attaching the machine to the table.

I am so thankful I did my research on yarn winders! This one is the best by far! I wanted something to last me for years to come: Sturdy, metal, and reliable. It was easy to assemble, it's very easy to store, and it works with even 8mm-hook yarn. I really enjoyed seeing the yarn cake up. I've finally got my excess yarn in proper cakes until I use them for future projects.

Well worth the money. Very simple to put together and works beautifully. Being metal it is very sturdy and stable. I absolutely love it.

Fellow yarn addicts, rejoice! I’ve been crocheting for over 40 years. I’ve used all kinds of yarn, and was always taught to roll my skeins / hanks into balls to keep them contained and relatively knot-free. A ball winder didn’t seem like something I really needed, as I already had two hands! Then again, I was frustrated because yarn balls have a tendency to skitter around like crazy and I always unwind a good amount before crocheting so that my tension isn’t goofy. I’ve used baskets (they snag the fiber), tupperware and other specialty products (which never fed the yarn smoothly) to hold my yarn, but I’ve never found the right solution. [Please note that I do not have a swift, because that is what husbands were made for.] But after all these years, and finding that I have a huge addiction to yarn (justified because yarn is mostly cheaper than drugs, and I won’t go to jail over my stash!) I decided to invest in a ball winder. I did a LOT of research, and wanted to make sure the device wouldn’t crap out on me after a few uses. I received an electric winder as a gift long ago, but it turned out to be a big pain in the backside to use. Not to mention, it made itty bitty 2 oz cakes, and I didn’t like constantly cutting and re-joining my yarn. Initially I wanted a ball winder to save space, as circular storage (i.e. yarn balls) take up a LOT of room. I use scrap leftovers to make blankets for the local animal rescue, and have many multicolored “magic balls” made from previous projects. Boy-howdy, do I have a LOT of yarn! I loved the idea of stacking my yarn as well. The winder came quickly, and was well packaged. It’s very sturdy and you can tell it’s not a plastic toy or something that’s going to fall apart quickly. It wasn’t difficult to set up either! I clamped it onto my computer desk and within 20 minutes I was ready to rock & roll. I grabbed one of my many pop-up hampers full of yarn balls, launched a video on my computer and went to making cakes like a deranged baker. Maybe because it’s a new toy, but the ball winder was actually kind of fun. It’s a mindless job to do while you’re watching TV or on the phone. The device moved smoothly and didn’t tangle the yarn unless I got stupid. Sure, it’s got a little noise to it, but it is quieter than my electric winder and didn’t bother my movie. Oh, and static? Just grab a new or used dryer sheet and hold it around the yarn as it’s feeding. Works great, and you can do the same for your clothes and hair too! Voila – no more shocking family and pets! Also, if you’re the queen of frogging, like me, I can tell you that this is awesome for taking apart a borked project. The best part? Time savings, which was a surprise. Normally it takes at least 15 minutes to ball up a 6 oz. skein of acrylic yarn. That’s assuming that there are no breaks, knots, the ball shoots out of my hands and I have to chase it across the room, or my cat decides it’s playtime. With this winder, it takes less than 3 minutes to cake a 6 oz skein. It’s beautifully done and quickly completed. I’m currently caking every scrap of yarn in the house and so far have found that my stash takes up at least 1/3 less space than before and is MUCH neater. Hubby is happy, I’m delighted, cat is a little confused. I’m using the heck out of this thing, and it seems to be taking the abuse. Conclusion: This ball winder is sturdy and well crafted. Easy set up. It makes beautiful cakes with minimal (read: no) snagging or tangling. The cakes save space, and are easier to store. It takes a crocheting / knitting chore and makes it much more manageable. Well worth the additional money for a quality product, and like others here, my only complaint is that I didn’t buy this thing years ago. If you crochet, knit, weave, spin, teach art, or have tons of yarn around, this is invaluable!!

I'm so happy with my purchase. Cleaning up my yarn stash has been a breeze. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking to purchase a good quality and well made winder. Shipping was also fantastic. The product was purchased on the 29th of May, with an expected delivery date of the 19th of June, and it was delivered on the 6th of June.

I bought this for my wife, to help with storage of the massive collection of wool that she has accumulated. Well... She pretty much hasn't used this since it arrived, and I've been happily converting her healthy obsession into an organised mountain of cakes!! I don't buy cheap tools, and this certainly isn't the cheapest compared to other options on here, but like others have said, it's quality that just works. Making the cake twice is essential to ensure correct (relaxed) tension. The first cake made from a skein will naturally be too tight, the second cake made from the first cake will be larger and looser so no stretching. Be sure to keep the wool you want to wrap to the right of the winder, this will prevent the yarn guide slipping and loosening. I'd buy another in a heartbeat, if you're on the fence, just go for it, this will keep you busy for hours!!

Caked up yarn is probably the best thing ever for yarn crafts, it's easy to store and convenient to use. The stanwood does an amazing job of caking up yarn. It feels extremely well-built and cakes wound using it are practically perfect. It might be a lot pricier than other smaller yarn winders but the quality you get from this far exceed the competition at equivalent or lower price points.

If you are looking for an easy to use and quality product, look no further. Simple to assemble, stable and easy to attach to virtually any table top. Definitely worth the extra spend. The consistency and tightness of the resulting ball was ideal and with the gearing takes less effort to rewind a skein into a ball. Not a wrap out of place, no wierd loose spots, the resulting ball was a dream to work with. Originally purchased a cheaper model and you get what you pay for.. the mounting bracket was not versatile and kept coming uncliped in the middle of a job, the resulting ball was uneven and loose. After 3 skeins, never wanted to use it again. With my next project using over 20 skeins, so happy I invested in this new one and I am no longer dreading preping the wool.

Habe lange mit einer Investition in einen Garnwickler gewartet. Nachdem mir dieser empfohlen wurde habe ich ihn mir dieses Jahr zum Geburtstag gegönnt. Erfüllt meine Erwartungen voll und ganz. Es ist möglich auch etwas größere Knäuel zu wickeln und die Qualität der Konstruktion und Materialien scheint sehr robust zu sein.