Skeinwright sells two tools, and only two
A folding umbrella swift that holds the skein, and a hand crank winder that turns it into a ball. Everything on this site exists to help you choose between them, or decide you want both.
Most yarn shops carry hundreds of items and know a little about each one. We went the other way. Skeinwright carries one umbrella swift at $39.99, one ball winder at $24.99, and the pair at $57.99. That is the whole catalogue, and it lets us answer a question about the clamp or the height of the frame without looking anything up first.
Why these two tools
A skein is sold twisted for good reasons: it travels well and it shows the colour. It knits badly. Pull from an untwisted skein lying on a table and you have a tangle within twenty minutes, which is why so many knitters end up draping the loop over their knees or asking someone to hold their hands out for half an hour.
The swift solves the holding half of the problem. It clamps to a table edge, opens like an umbrella to 21.65 in across, stands 16.54 in tall, and turns as you pull so the loop feeds out at your own pace. Its skeleton is iron with plastic rings at the joints, and it folds flat when you are done, which matters when the craft space is also the dining table.
The winder solves the other half. It measures 7.48 by 5.35 by 3.54 in, clamps to the same table edge, and its crank builds a centre pull ball that sits still while you knit. The manufacturer of the swift describes the two tools working together, and buyers say the same thing: many bought one and came back for the other.
We publish the measurements exactly as the manufacturer states them, tolerance of 1 to 3 cm included, because these parts are measured by hand. We do not publish a weight or a maximum skein size, because neither figure is published for these tools and an estimate dressed up as a specification is not worth anything to you.
Who writes this site
Marguerite Aubin, Hand knitter and yarn tool tester
Marguerite has been winding her own yarn for eleven years, first with a chair back and a friend holding the skein, then with every swift and winder she could get her hands on. She writes and checks every page on this site.
Marguerite writes the product pages, the guides and the testing notes. When a page states a limit, such as the basic finish on the swift clamp, it is because a buyer raised it and we agreed the point was fair.
Honest by default
We do not invent ratings and we do not hide the awkward parts of a budget tool. On our reviews page the two products stay apart, the swift on one side and the winder on the other, because merging them would hand the swift numbers it never earned.
Skeinwright is published by Animouf LLC, a company registered in Wyoming, USA, and this site is hosted on Cloudflare, Inc. Payments run through Stripe, shipping is free, and every order is covered by a 30 day money back guarantee. Questions reach a person: write to contact@yarn-swift.com.