Best Ball Winders and Umbrella Swifts for DIY Knitting and Crocheting Projects

This Stanwood Needlecraft model of knitting ball winders is big and can make up to 10 oz. yarn cakes. However, even when rotated at full speed, it doesn't produce much vibration. The base and the clamp are made of sturdy metal, but the bobbin, gears, and crank handle are made of plastic.
Despite our initial concerns that the nylon gear teeth might be too weak and break apart if used intensively for a long time, they turned out to be very reliable and long-lasting here. Unlike the metal gears, these also make much less noise, which is a huge plus if you plan on setting it in a living room. Speaking of installation, the extra-wide base platform has the C-clamp for attaching it to up to 2 1/8" thick desk.
Controls-wise, all you need to do is set the strand from the skein in the bobbin and rotate the handle while slightly holding the strand with the other hand to reduce the risk of tangling. For the best results, we recommend combining it with the umbrella swift. 

Bottom line: even though there are many models with pretty much the same design, this 10 oz. ball yarn winder has a reliable build and works comparatively quietly. This makes it one of the best winders for making large cakes of yarn.

Writing the review on the yarn winders would be almost impossible without mentioning the swifts. To some extent, they can be an even more important tool for knitting than ball winders. The reason is that they allow you to uncoil the hanks and make the balls or cakes out if them faster than if you just did this with your hands.
This Stanwood Needlecraft Yarn Swift can be expanded just like an umbrella for holding skeins with up to 6 ft. in circumference. That way, it can hold almost any size of yarn, wool or fiber hanks that are available on the market. But what the people really like about this model is its design and materials. All of its wooden components have a fine sanded finish without any splittings. Therefore, there's nothing that could catch and entangle the yarn during spinning. Additionally, the wooden arms create almost no static electricity, which is a good thing because sometimes you can get zapped when the fabric is spun on a plastic model. The clamp is made of wood as well and has a 1 3/4" maximum mouth opening for attaching it to the desks. 

As a result, the Stanwood Needlecraft Umbrella Swift is good-looking, easy-to-handle knitting equipment for smoothly unwinding the hanks and use in pair with a yarn winder.

If you are looking for the ball winder to make small cakes for your crocheting and knitting projects, this KnitPicks Yarn Ball Winder is exactly what you need because it's designed to make compact - up to 3.5 oz. - balls for hassle-free storing.
This model comes disassembled but all the parts are not too hard to put together thanks to the instructions printed outside of the box. In the bottom of the base, there is a plastic clamp for securing it on up to 1 1/2" thick desks. As for the winding parts, the plastic gears are hidden inside the base - probably, for protection against clogging.
It's worth mentioning that it's quite noisy when you rotate the handle too fast, but it doesn't affect the result in any way. What does actually have an impact on the winding quality is the low strand tension between the skein and the winder. Therefore, you might want to hold the strand with your free hand to form the cake of higher density or just get a swift for this.

In short, it's an inexpensive ball winder that even a child can handle for winding small yarn cakes.

The instruction says that this Lacis Jumbo MO37 Yarn Ball Winder is designed for winding up to 10 oz. yarn cakes. However, some reviewers on Amazon report that they have winded a full 1 lbs skein with it as well. It has 2 symmetrically placed swing arms. It turned out that having the strand pulled through both of them not only increases the tension allowing you to create denser balls but also makes the device more stable when the cone is spinning at high speed. Therefore, it produces fewer vibrations and less noise, compared to some other ball winders. Additionally, those arms keep the yarn away from the gears, which is also a good safety measure.
Although it comes disassembled in a box, the manufacturer has included a handy screwdriver with a magnetic tip for the tiny screws and the detailed instruction on how to put the pieces together. The plastic clamp that secures the base to the desk is a bit short but looks like it can withstand some heavy duty. What's more, it's attached to the rotatable rod that you can just move aside and simply place the ball winder on the table when you need to wind small cakes instead of attaching to it to save your time.

This colorful CUTEHILL Umbrella Swift has the arms with the bright green color and comes at a very attractive price. It can firmly hold hanks with up to 6 ft. in circumference while you gently unwind the skeins. We have noticed that if you pull the strand out of it too fast, e.g. when you pair it with the ball winder, the swift can spin around way at such a high speed that the strand may become loose. Still, it has a wonderful quality for its price.
Furthermore, the swift's rod angle can be adjusted, so that you could secure the umbrella in a necessary position. For example, make the umbrella stay in a vertical orientation like the spinner's weasel.
The diameter is super-easy to change: just press the spring clamp near the umbrella head and fine-tune the size for the skein. On the very top, there's a small crank handle used for unraveling the knitted strand back onto the swift or for creating the hanks back from the balls.

Concluding, this is a nice inexpensive umbrella swift for controlling the skeins for you while balling or for winding the hanks with it.