tausigma-kes:

Sometimes, you just can’t find the right tool for the job so you have to jury-rig one yourself.  I knit the first two balls of this yarn from the center, but the yarn just kept twisting up, thereby forcing me to untwist the yarn using the actual knitting like a drop spindle (spinning in the opposite direction) and subsequently driving me a little batty.  The third ball I knit from the outside, being careful to reel the yarn off rather than just pull it off.  Well, that worked just fine—twisting problem eliminated—but who wants to be careful when unwinding yarn?

Enter K’Nex and a yarn winder table clamp.  My little K’Nex contraption spins on a wheel axle, allowing the ball of yarn to turn smoothly while I pull the yarn as I need it.  The table clamp is part of my KP ball winder kit and it prevents the somewhat flimsy K’Nex spinner from falling off the table.

This isn’t nearly as clever as the motorized yarn swift or the motorized Lego yarn winder that other knitters have made, but it does exactly what I need it to do—which is to say, it preserves my sanity.

(via theknittingpirate)