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

[aunty_marion]

IKnit have both wooden umbrella swifts and a slightly cheaper metal one, which is what I have, as it also has a tilt mechanism, so it doesn't have to be clamped only to a horizontal surface. I clamp mine to the back of a chair, and my yarn winder is on a corner of the table.

Let's see ... Ah yes. This is the page - scroll down to the bottom. It says the metal ones are out of stock, but you'd need to contact the shop to check that, as the web page may not have been updated to reflect actual stock.

Nest, in Crouch End, North London (my local LYS!) also has the wooden umbrella swifts; it's a penny cheaper there than at IKnit!

You should be able to get one similar from most good knitting shops, and many online retailers too. Get Knitted in Bristol, for instance, is another good one.

[pensnest]

Thanks for the information - and sorry for the belated reply. I've passed it along to Beast, and will wait and see what he produces for me. :-) I think he'd found some swifts that could be clamped for horizontal instead of vertical alignment, so we'd wondered about attaching one to a chair.