On the subject of swifts

[pensnest]

My birthday is approaching, and my Beast is looking into buying me a swift, for he is a good Beast. However, he doesn't know anything about swifts, and I don't know much more, so I wonder if anyone here might have some advice?

I'm more of a dk/aran knitter than a lace knitter, so presumably I'll need something reasonably sturdy. Beyond that, we neither of us really know what to look for. Are there any recommended brands or styles? Any that we should avoid? Is having the arms tied together with string a good thing or a bad one?

We're in the UK, and it would seem sensible to order one in this country rather than on the other side of the Atlantic, but even so, examples of the ideal would at least give us something to look at!

Comments

[woolychicken]

I have what starfish refers to as a table top swift. I really love it. Much more sturdy than an umbrella swift. You can get everything from very simple peg ones to freestanding huge ones.

I don't seem to have any action shots since I use it in the basement where the light isn't good, but you can see it hanging on the wall in the booth I bought it from here:


It is also common to find antique ones here and I am thinking of making one modelled after them someday.

You can see one on a stand here and also the edge of another style.


The other kind has big pegs and looks reallly sturdy.

[adonnchaid]

Actually, the last "swift" picture (vertical implement, front left)(and the same thing seen in the right edge of the second pic) is a clock reel, which is used for creating skeins of yarn of a specific length. Yarn from cones or balls, or from spinning wheel spindles is wound around the clock reel, creating the skein, and the clock mechanism "clicks" when the finished length is wound.

[woolychicken]

Ah cool, thank you! The label on them only said yarn swift and did not give any further info. Now I know why I was having trouble finding out more about them :-)

[pensnest]

I must say, I do like the look of the table top swifts - they seem (arguably) more 'me', somehow. Thanks for the pictures!

[woolychicken]

Yeah, the umbrella style just seemed too flimsy for me!

It depends what you are doing too though. I spin so when I wind my yarn into skeins I am always using the same niddy noddy and I don't really have anything odd sized. The only advantage I could see to the umbrella style is that they can handle weird sizes, but those are not very common IME. I have been able to deal with any by simply moving one or two pegs in or out instead and it still turned fine.