About Our Swifts

This is our best selling item which is a tool used for processing yarn. It functions both as a skeinwinder, which is used to form skeins, and as a swift, which is used for un-winding skeins of yarn and making them into balls.

You can use it as a skeinwinder to make yarn into skeins(sometimes referred to as hanks) after spinning or plying. Also, when unraveling a hand-knit item you can unravel the yarn directly onto it. As a swift you can use this tool to un-wind skeins into balls for use when knitting or crocheting. With the added use of a mechanical ball-winder, our swifts can make an evenly-tensioned ball. It is adjustable for many different sizes of hanks and this is handy for a number of reasons.

• Skeins you buy come in many different sizes
• Yarns shrink after washing. Processing yarn either from spinning, dyeing, recycling, etc. involves soaking and drying of skeins. After this it won't be the same diameter it was when it was made.
• It is possible to make the hank whatever size you want. For instance you can predetermine the circumference desired and count the revolutions while you wind the yarn and multiply these amounts to find yardage/meters.

  About Our Design

  • Our model is an inexpensive alternative to the more traditional upright style adjustable skeinwinder or surface mounting umbrella swift.
  • Ours are handcrafted individually which is a benefit to quality control. This also allows us to sell them direct to the consumer which keeps costs to a minimum
  • We use local suppliers of domestic hardwoods which are handpicked for quality. Our regularly available domestics are Walnut,Oak,and Cherry. Occasionally we find some exotics such as Mahogany and offer them as long as the supply lasts.
  • Our woods are handfinished with a mixture of Linseed oil and Tung oil, and then a layer of paste wax is applied for a smooth, natural, long-lasting sealer. You should not have to do anything to maintain this with regular use. If you needed to refresh to finish, a coating of Johnson's paste wax could be applied. It is readily available in many retail stores.

  How to assemble and use

  • Assemble base pieces using the lap joint to form an X
  • Insert short dowel in the center hole
  • Assemble arms (longer pieces) by joining at the center in the same manner as the base and place center hole of arm assembly through the dowel in the center of the base. NOTE If the holes don't line up perfectly to insert into the center dowel, removearms from base. Take them apart and rotate oneof the arms 180 dgrees and replace on base. It will now fit.
  • Now place the 4 long dowels at the setting which best accomodates your yarn or the size you want the circumference to be, if you're winding to measure yardage.
  • For skeinwinding
    Tie the yarn onto one of the dowels Inset a 5th dowel into an unused hole of the arms to use as a handle for turning.
  • For ball winding
  • Swift will function best if it is in line with the ball winder
  • Affix free end onto ball winder which is securely mounted to surface and wind yarn.

   

  Here's some pictures of my husband, the craftsman, in our shop, with some swifts in production.

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