Swift: wonderful tool or modern art

A few months ago a beautiful object sneaked into our home. Crafted in wood and beautifully finished, it stands tall, folded up and ready to be used. It is so beautiful that it is stood on our sideboard, and has intrigued many a non crafty visitor. This Swift was made by a talented woman: Claire . Here she is at the Almanack explaining that with the pegs and various slots, it is possible to hold skeins of varying size snugly and with the solid brass central pin, the swift spins smoothly at slow or high speed.

Claire is a regular at our knitting group, and as far as I was concerned had been hiding her light under a bushel. Well not really, Claire is just conscious that she does not want to use the group just to market her wares, but to join as a regular member. When Mandy brought in her swift to show us, it was without any hesitation that I placed my order. I wonder just how many of us in the group who buy skeins of wool would want and in fact have one of these Swifts.

I do find hand winding balls of yarn quite relaxing, and when he is around Mr S does do the holding of the skein bit, but when it comes to lace weight yarn, this can take several hours over several days, and can get tiring. These balls were all hand wound with my thumb forming the hole.

Last year I picked up a bargain of a ball winder in one of the many Kenilworth Charity Shops, and had this parked in the back of a cupboard ready for the day I would find just the right Swift.

Whilst I had the swift and the winder out, I wound all this lace weight yarn,, including the mohair in less than half a day. Now it is all ready to knit into soft lacy shawls.