For those of you who don’t know what a yarn swift is it’s used to either unwind yarn from hanks into balls or to wind yarn into hanks from bobbins (after spinning yarn from fiber). Now apparently hanks come in all different sizes, so the swift needs adjustability (hence all the fricken holes).
Now why do I know so much about yarn and now knitting? It was my friend Kara’s fault. She knew I was kinda handy with wood and needed one of these things. I happened to need a scarf to replace the one I lost last year. So she gets a yarn swift, and I get a 6 foot hand knitted scarf made from Peruvian highland wool. And I get to work a project that involves wood and mechanical toys.
So after seeing some poor models on eBay I decided that a good basis of the swift would be a lazy Susan. After an hour at lowes contemplating materials and designs I decided on Poplar for wood and a 5” bearing (which has a weight capacity of 350 lbs, that’s lots of yarn!). The hardest thing to work out in my head, while shopping for everything, was how to mount the bearing between two circles. Once that was figured out everything else was cake. The finish is 3 coats of gloss Minwax brush-on poly finished with a final coat of Minwax spray-on satin poly. After it cured for 3-4 days I buffed it out with 0000 steel wool and Johnson’s wax. The result is a smooth finish that should play well with delicate yarns. The bottom of the swift has a layer of shelf liner cork for protection and anti-skidness.
Here are some pics of the final product:
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Now why do I know so much about yarn and now knitting? It was my friend Kara’s fault. She knew I was kinda handy with wood and needed one of these things. I happened to need a scarf to replace the one I lost last year. So she gets a yarn swift, and I get a 6 foot hand knitted scarf made from Peruvian highland wool. And I get to work a project that involves wood and mechanical toys.
So after seeing some poor models on eBay I decided that a good basis of the swift would be a lazy Susan. After an hour at lowes contemplating materials and designs I decided on Poplar for wood and a 5” bearing (which has a weight capacity of 350 lbs, that’s lots of yarn!). The hardest thing to work out in my head, while shopping for everything, was how to mount the bearing between two circles. Once that was figured out everything else was cake. The finish is 3 coats of gloss Minwax brush-on poly finished with a final coat of Minwax spray-on satin poly. After it cured for 3-4 days I buffed it out with 0000 steel wool and Johnson’s wax. The result is a smooth finish that should play well with delicate yarns. The bottom of the swift has a layer of shelf liner cork for protection and anti-skidness.
Here are some pics of the final product:
