Before I go on and show you a couple of new designs, let me tell you something else.

I finally got myself a yarn swift.

It’s not that I hadn’t liked to have one earlier, I just didn’t like the ones I saw everywhere. My friend has an umbrella swift, and while I really admire its construction, I found it always a bit shaky and weak.

Then there are those who “sit” on the table top. Basically a base with four arms and adjustable dowels. The german word is “Mühlenhaspel”, but I didn’t find any good translation for that. Anyway – I really like the way these swifts work, but I didn’t like the look too much. It’s so functional somehow, so naked. No – if I ever got myself a swift, it should be one that rocked.

It so happened that I stumbled over a link posted on Ravelry. I fell instantly in love with the linked photos, and I simply had to order this swift. It is handcrafted in Germany, made from sipo-mahagony and the look is beautiful. And now that I finally got it at home, I can say that it works flawlessly as well. There seems to be a kind of ball bearing under the base which allows the construction to move very fluently, without getting jammed.
My swiftIt holds skeins up to 1.80m circumference and it’s easy to take it to pieces if you don’t have a lot space at home. If you fell in love with this swift, you can order yourself one here (german website).

I’m still winding my skeins per hand, but the process is a lot faster now. And to be honest… I found a great wooden ball winder as well. I’ll keep you posted once it arrives here. 🙂