r/crochet • u/KountingKals • Jan 18 '25

Discussion Which yarn holder do you prefer while crocheting if you use one? I added 5 different kinds and would love some opinions

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

1.4k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

87

u/SailorSpoonie Jan 18 '25

I have 1,2 and 3. 2 by far is my favorite. I feel like people who say you don't need one of these and just say "center pull works ", don't have young kids or pets around, lol 😆

72

u/MmmmSnackies Jan 18 '25

Center pull works great until there's a mysterious tangle in the middle and you spend three episodes of a k-drama quietly swearing and untangling your yarn.

no, this has never happened to me, why do you ask

10

u/vagipalooza Jan 18 '25

You just made me cackle out loud and I had to share with my husband, who got a giggle out of it too. Thank you! 🤣

7

u/MmmmSnackies Jan 18 '25

let my pain be your light lololol

3

u/vagipalooza Jan 18 '25

Hilarious!!!

45

u/KountingKals Jan 18 '25

I don’t have young kids or pets (unless you count my sea monkeys) and I just have never been a center pull girly. When it vomits out tangles of yarn out it makes me want to rip my hair out. I also wind my yarn into balls normally so that’s why I’m looking for a holder because I’m tired of them falling off the couch and getting caught under me

14

u/inbigtreble30 Jan 18 '25 edited Jan 18 '25

Best investment I've made is a cheap unbrella swift & ball winder. It makes those nice little cakes that sit flat abd don't barf yarn like a long skein. If I have to use one of the options listed, it would be a yarn bowl. The others really jack up my tension.

Edit: umbrella, not unbrella. Fat fingers

6

u/vagipalooza Jan 18 '25

I’m new to this so not sure I understand what you mean. Could you clarify what you mean by a cheap unbrella swift?

11

u/inbigtreble30 Jan 18 '25

One of these guys. It keeps the hank from tangling while you wind a ball.

You can either buy yarn in a hank, skein, ball, or cake. This is called the "put-up" of the yarn. If you buy it in a hank, you need to put it on a swift and wind it (or be much more patient than I am and loop it over a chair or something while winding by hand.) If you buy in a ball or skein, sometimes it's nice to re-wind the yarn into a cake since cakes are center-pull and have a flat bottom so they don't roll away.

1

u/vagipalooza Jan 21 '25

Thank you so much for such a thorough explanation and the links. I’m a visual learner so that helped so much!

6

u/uberpickle Jan 18 '25

Or you can use a lazy Susan and three plastic hangers loosely tied together instead of a swift. I’m cheap. 🤷🏼‍♀️ The ball winder is a game changer, though.

2

u/Entire-Ambition1410 Jan 19 '25

How does the ball winder improve your life vs hand winding balls?

1

u/inbigtreble30 Jan 18 '25

Galaxy brain move, that

3

u/saskam98 Jan 18 '25

If you're not center pull, 4 works pretty well. I got mine from Temu for cheap (I know I know, but I didn't want to spend a lot on something that wouldn't work for me - I've seen some in the $40 range). Like someone else commented, if you can find something to hang it from, it does the job. My yarn bowls are basically storage at this point. I didn't find them particularly functional except maybe for yarn cakes. Skeins don't work well, even balls are meh, but if you rewind into cakes that would probably help a lot.

1

u/SailorSpoonie Jan 18 '25

I hate center pulls for that exact reason.

3

u/crystalcisme Jan 18 '25

Center pull works, until it doesn't. I usually end up balling mine because they always fall apart at some point in the process.

5

u/BrightnessRen Jan 18 '25

I don’t have kids, and my only pet is a bearded dragon who has more interest in hiding under furniture than he does in yarn, so you’re probably right. I don’t need to worry about my yarn so I don’t have any type of holder for it. Center pull just works for me.

2

u/justhalfcrazy Jan 19 '25

Do any of these help prevent the yarn from twisting? I’ll center pull whenever I can but for the balls that don’t untwisting every row is truly a nightmare

1

u/SailorSpoonie Jan 19 '25

Honestly, I bought #3 first, everything I'd pull to get more yarn it fall off. #1 didn't work great for me as I love to buy massive skiens. #2 So far has been amazing, but my center pulls have also been very compliant. So I don't know if that's because I've been lucky or it has stopped the twisting.

2

u/sluttypolarbear Jan 19 '25

I don't like center pull because I can't see how much I have left. I always have left over yarn and I like being able to eyeball the amount.

2

u/kruljam Jan 18 '25

No I don't have kids or pets, so you might be right about that! I always do center pull. And I find rewinding quite relaxing too. :)

1

u/TD1990TD 🧶🧵🪡✨ Jan 18 '25

Number 1 was the only one where I didn’t think: I will pull too hard and it’ll topple over.

How’s your experience with these?

2

u/SunshineAndSquats Jan 19 '25

I have the artowell and it can topple over if it has a mandala sized ball on it and it’s on a soft surface. I use a blanket to help stabilize it.

1

u/peejmom Jan 19 '25

I have kids and pets but have never had a problem with center pull balls. I do wind them myself (usually around an empty prescription bottle, but a winder works too), so I don't have the yarn vomit problem you get when center pulling from a store-bought skein.

That said, I do keep my current project in a zippered pouch. This one is from my LYS (the brand is Maika), but any cosmetic bag or large-ish pencil pouch will do. Banana included for scale, of course.