It seems that of all the simple "home" ball winders on the market, the Royal ball winder was receiving the best reviews. Prices I found on various websites ranged from $35.00 - $68.00 (crazy price range for the SAME model!)
I am always a bit reserved when it comes to actually hitting the "buy" button for just about everything I ever buy. I'd love to have one -- it seems like a super fun and easy gadget to have available to take care of those deflated partially used yarn skeins.
Now, of course, I have balled up my excess yarns in the past -- but those pesky balls roll all over the place when working with them. A tip that was shared to stabilize the balls from all of that rolling was to simply place them into a small bowl. Done deal. Ball stabilized.
A ball winder takes care of the stabilization because it makes a "cake" ball rather than a round ball. And the "pulling" of yarn comes from the center, NOT the outside.
As with any search ..... MANY Do-It-Yourself sites flooded my search results.
AND, some super straight-forward instructions on DIY Ballwinder were found -- of course I was going to give it a try.
Results....
-- a center-pull ball of yarn..... that was just a wee bit too tight.
Lesson learned: Start winding looser, Amy!
Of course, just as with a new skein of yarn, after a bit of crochet, the center starts emptying --- problem solved.
Naturally, when I tried my second ball.... the results were MUCH better because I started wrapping the yarn around the tube much looser at the start.
I really don't need one.
{{And I can used the saved $$ to buy more yarn, right??}}
