Features:

  • You will get 1 piece umbrella swift yarn winder.
  • It is a machine for hand operated ball winder, please refer to picture for using instruction
  • Dimensions: 17 x 19 x 21 inches, clamp/clip height 1.69inch(4.3cm)
  • Umbrella swift winder integral handle permits use as a winder, adjustable clamp permits vertical, horizontal, or angled operation.
  • Packaged in a box, perfect craft tool, please use it on a desk thinner than 1.69inch (4.3cm)
Fantastic for a budget!

Absolutely fantastic! I am so thrilled I was able to purchase this (especially for 20 dollars)! Super simple set up and easy to store. I am planning on just leaving it in it's small narrow box. I can now cake my hand spun yarn and not taking up an entire hour to do it by hand! :D

Great Swift!

This is a great little swift. I've noticed that swifts tend to be very expensive. I was a little nervous about trying this one as it seemed like to good of a deal but I was tired of hand winding all my 400+ yards of fingering weight yarn so I thought I'd give it a try. I use it in combination with a Knit Picks ball winder and the set up is perfect for me. The slide to adjust the size is very smooth and so far has been able to expand large enough to accommodate any skein I have put on it. I have also used it to re-skein some of the yarn I have hand dyed. The clamp for the table can be a little tricky sometimes, as in I will unscrew it and it it stays clamped. I just jiggle it a little bit and it comes loose so not a deal breaker for me. When this first happened I thought it was stuck and decided to just pull it off the table. I hadn't noticed there were little teeth on the clamp and ended up gouging my table, so just be aware that they are there. I can't knock a star off for that since it was my fault, and the teeth do help to secure it so it stays but while winding. Overall I think this swift is a great deal, especially if you are a knitter on a budget!

Worked well right out of the box-appears to be a good value

I was truly leery about buying this swift. I've been burned with cheep Chinese made products in the past. But as someone that doesn't need to wind yarn into cakes all that often I just couldn't justify spending more than twice as much on a handsome wooden swift. But it got good reviews in general from other buyers so I thought I would give it a try. After all, if it was a real disappointment I would rely on Amazon to make it right. Much to my surprise it works very well. I used it with a Knit Picks ball winder to make 4 yarn cakes from super bulky yarn. It was fully assembled out of the box. I clamped it onto my coffee table and it worked smoothly and easily. Can't say I love the green plastic (white? blue?) but that is certainly minor. While not as esthetically pleasing as a wooden swift, which are so handsome and harken back to the "olden days" and wooden spinning wheels, this one is less expensive, lighter weight, and more compact to store. If I had a craft studio where the swift would remain up and visible all the time, maybe it would matter more. And yes, while it is early days still, I expect that this swift will work well for my purposes.

Great yarn swift at an excellent price

Fantastic! Ordered special yarn and didn't realize it came in hanks so I needed a yarn swift stat!! A yarn what??? Lol yeah a yarn swift I was told. So I purchased this one and now have been rolling my hanks into balls in no time flat! I considered purchasing the more expensive wood ones however after asking the wonderful Amazon crafting community what they thought of this product because I didn't even know the name of this cool apparatus before I ordered it..and I erroneously thought that a wooden, more expensive yarn swift equaled better for me lol.. thank god I asked because I received lots of great feedback about this model. So I purchased this this one over ones two times as much that do the same exact job... roll yarn into a ball from a hank. I'll say I was skeptical at first because it's made with plastic but I was quickly reassured that it would be ok. And it was! I quickly received my new yarn swift... pulled it out of the box and attached it to a chair arm via the adjustable clamp with no issues.. watched a you tube video that another Amazon community member, a wonderful lady, suggested that I watch being that I'd never used one plus the yarn was wicked expensive lol..just so I didn't ruin the yarn.. I was up and running in 3 minutes it was that easy! I placed my yarn hank on the yarn swift, hooked up my electric ball winder and went to town! Crazy fast and cool! I was actually sad when I ran out of hanks to wind into balls! Now I no longer have to pass up the beautiful yarn in hanks thanks to this baby. Don't let the price or the plastic be a deterrent to purchase this model. I will say it's made in china so some of it is of a cheap plastic but I find no issues with that. I'm careful and store it in the original box when not in use. I just pull it out of the box and clamp it to my chair arm when I need it. Super easy. I've used it quite a bit with no issues other than my user error. If you're new to yarn swifts, start with this model because it's very inexpensive, fast shipping and I don't think you'll be disappointed. Then if you decide to go pro and do nothing but wind hanks into balls all day then you might want to upgrade but for the occasional hank winder, this is more than sufficient for your needs.

However I'm very pleased with the quality and pricing

I wasn't expecting much because of the mixed reviews. However I'm very pleased with the quality and pricing. As others have stated it is a little flimsy but it's still a solid product that works perfect. I would recommend this product who needs something efficient and affordable.

light, easy to use, excellent "spin"

I really wasn't sure about this swift at first. It seemed pretty fragile. It is true that you absolutely have to put something padded between it and wood or it will "bite" into the wood. After using this for quite a few months, I tried a wooden, much more expensive, swift that I had been eyeing and wishing I could get. I thought I would love it, However, when I tried using the wooden swift, I found that it didn't spin nearly easily enough and made the yarn cakes really tight! I like mine to be more loose so that the yarn isn't pulled out of shape over time and give me a different gauge at the beginning versus the end of a project. I am now very happy with my swift. It is so light weight that it is really easy to set up compared to the wooden one, and it spins so easily that my cakes aren't too tight, and I can easily re-skein yarn if I have to from a cake without wearing out my arms! If I want a tighter cake I run the yarn through my hand on its way to the winder - the pressure creates a tighter cake. I think you could also use one hand on the spokes of the swift, letting the spokes hit your hand as it goes around, but that would be a bit awkward. The swift does seem a bit fragile, so I wouldn't have children around it, but as long as I am not careless and treat it with care, it has been fantastic and very affordable. Recommended!!

Perfect for what I needed!

I had messy half jumbo skeins left over after Christmas projects. Serendipity happened and I ran across an article about yarn winders. I purchased a yarn winder and the Swift. In a short amount of time, I had nicely wound balls. It didn’t take long to figure out how to use it. I am pleased knowing that I won’t have to deal with unraveling skeins getting knotted up during my work. This will definitely lessen that frustration level! I can tell the price point on this matches the quality. It is a little awkward to use as it’s not super sturdy, although maybe I hadn’t adjusted it completely? However I will only use it a few times a year maybe, so for me it’s more than adequate.

Worth giving it a shot!

Pleasantly surprised with this inexpensive swift. I'd used the $50 wooden one before and for a fingering weight yarn I'd say this worked just as well. I haven't tried a heavier yarn (since I generally buy those already in skeins) so I can't speak to whether or not this light weight swift will stand up to it. My initial thoughts are that it will. Just one thing to note and I felt this was more my fault than the swift's so I'm not docking any stars - the top part of the clamp seems to have small teeth in it. I most likely screwed the clamp too tightly and as a result have a few marks in my desk. Be careful when attaching it and you'll be fine.

One of two devices needed.

Bought alpaca lace yarn that wasn't in a ball or in a formation that was easy to use. Decided to see if there was something that made balls. I needed something to hold your yarn while spinning. This was very easy to set up. I was able to make two small balls with the same color because my pattern calls for two strands. I didn't have to buy to skeins, because I could easily spin my own yarn balls. Absolutely love it.

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