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Thursday, June 21, 2007

Alternate Skein Winder

I've joined a 'spin-to-knit-along' for handspun shawls. I posted over there about my trouble with the broken niddy noddy and Tyler suggested using my umbrella swift. At first I resisted the idea thinking how awkward it would be. Then I read somewhere else in the blog-o-sphere (can't remember exactly where) that it works well if the swift is mounted sideways, on the table leg, instead of in its usual position on a table top.

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Well, look at that! It does work. I tied a non-stretchy string into a circle of exactly 2 yards and then opened the swift until it fit the string. I then tied a colourful piece of yarn to one section of the swift as a marker. Rotating the swift around and around by hand (easily done by hanging onto one of the 'spokes') I counted each pass the marker string made.

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I have at least 760 yards of 22 WPI, 2 ply laceweight in one continuous strand. (The handspun wasn't as tight on the swift as the measuring string was so I figure each 'lap' was slightly more than the 2 yards I counted.) I have a wee bit more that I Andean plyed from what was leftover on one of the bobbins after plying. I'll likely use that bit for my gauge swatch/es.

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The beads are leftover from another project. There won't be enough to do the shawl, but they match so well that I'll take them with me when I'm hunting down some more. I think I know where I got them.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Your yarn is amazing! I love how the beads bring out the tiny blips of color amongst all the black. It's gonna be smashing all knit up!

Melanie said...

Wow, the laceweight is beautifully spun. All those perfect little twists! The beads are a perfect colour too. I can't wait to see what you knit with it.

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous yarn! I KNOW the shawl will be just lovely. Gotta love how these people "jump" out of your computer with all these clever problem-solving suggestions. Will be watching for the shawl photo!

Kat said...

WOW! That is some gorgeous yarn!!!

Very good idea about using the string to measure around the swift. I'm gonna have to steal that idea. :-)

midgeling said...

I use my swift all the time for that purpose. Silly me never thought to use a string to measuer BEFORE. I usually do what looks good and then measure after I wind, lol. DUH!

dragon knitter said...

did i say this before?

DROOL!

Maggie Ann said...

How interesting..and your yarn is SO gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing the information about using the swift sideways. I am so sick of the niddy noddy and I think this is going to be a great change for the better.