Yarn Tools: Best way to manage and organize yarn while knitting or crocheting -- with yarn ball winder!

Do you have one of those yarn ball winders that is so necessary when you buy yarn by the hank? Up until now, I have always taken the yarn ball off the yarn winder bobbin. And while knitting I frequently stop to unwind or pull more yarn from the ball or to fish the the dusty and furry (I have a dog) ball from under the couch where it has disappeared.

Another use for my Yarn Ball Winder

But I just realized there is another use for the ball winder — as a yarn holder during knitting. If I leave the ball and bobbin on the winder, the yarn magically unwinds as needed because the gears of the winder have hardly any friction and so the slight tug on the yarn from knitting will make the winder spin, unfurling more yarn. Now I don’t need to stop to pull out or manually unwind yarn from the ball and no more searching under the couch for lost and dirty yarn. This makes me so happy and more efficient. Yay!.

Extra bobbins for Yarn Ball Winder

My yarn winder came with one bobbin. The bobbins attach to the body of the winder with a twist, so they are very easy to remove and replace. I found a shop on the web and bought more bobbins so that when working on a multi-color project I can leave each yarn color on a bobbin after winding, and then pop the bobbins on and off as needed when I change colors during knitting.