What Is a Yarn Swift Used For?
A yarn swift allows crafters to quickly wind skeins of yarn into a more manageable loop. They expand like an umbrella to hold a loop of yarn around their wheel-like shape. As they spin, yarn winds around them.
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Efficiency
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Unwinding a skein of yarn can take time, but a yarn swift speeds up this process, especially because it helps a crafter to avoid tangling.
Protecting Hands
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Winding yarn and unknotting it can be painful if a crafter has joint problems, and repeated stress can cause such problems. A yarn swift saves fingers and wrists from unnecessary stress.
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Balling Yarn
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A swift can prepare yarn for balling. After it unwinds the yarn, a crafter can wind it by hand into a ball, or use a ball-winding instrument for that purpose.
Dying Yarn
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A yarn swift can also be used for winding yarn into skeins. This creates a neat, yet loose arrangement of yarn, allowing dye to penetrate the yarn evenly, as Jan Eaton describes in "200 Crochet Tips, Techniques and Trade Secrets."
Maintaining Quality
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Some crafters prefer not to wind yarn into balls until just before they use it, to prevent it from becoming damaged. When preparing yarn for sale, people use yarn swifts to wind yarn into a loose skein.
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References
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- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of hobvias sudoneighm
