Review Yarn Winding - Should I cake my yarn?
Should I cake my yarn?
Well... that's not happening for me. I simply don't have the space. I have one IKEA cabinet for my yarn, and that's all I get. It was getting pretty full too, because like many crocheters, buying yarn is just as much of a hobby as actually crocheting.
In one of Krochet by Kris's videos, I watched her frog a few WIPs and wind the yarn into cakes using a yarn winder. That's when I thought, I need one of those. The cakes looked so neat and organized.
I told my boyfriend about it, and he surprised me by ordering a pretty heavy-duty yarn winder from AliExpress. The funny thing is... I had already ordered one for myself! I had chosen a small, cute, pink and white plastic one.
So now I own two yarn winders.
I tried both of them, and honestly, I actually prefer the inexpensive plastic one. It turns more smoothly and is easier to use. To be fair, it does feel like it won't survive forever, but for now, I like it a lot.
However, for really large skeins, I use the bigger one my boyfriend bought because it can hold a lot more yarn. The bigger one also winds the yarn into a more tight cake.
Turning all of my existing skeins into cakes was quite a job, though. Especially with a two-year-old in the house who found the spinning skeins on the floor absolutely fascinating and kept running off with them! It took me several days, winding about ten skeins a day. That easily took half an hour each day.
Another frustrating thing was the last bit of yarn in many skeins. Almost every time, the last bit became very tangled. I'm terrible at finding the center pull, so I worked from the outside instead. I wouldn't recommend that. I probably spent more time untangling yarn than actually winding it. Sometimes I simply cut off the tangled part and threw it away. After a while, my patience had definitely run out and luckily my yarn is cheap.
Finally, the moment had arrived. I could start crocheting from a yarn cake instead of a skein.
And wow... what a difference!
No more bouncing skeins rolling around beside me on the couch. The yarn feeds so much more smoothly, it's much easier to pull out more yarn while you're working. I honestly couldn't believe it. I wish I had started doing this years ago!
It's also absolutely amazing when working with multiple colours. In the past, I made a C2C blanket using several colours at once, and those skeins constantly rolled over each other, creating one giant tangled mess. Yarn cakes stay exactly where you put them, which makes a huge difference.
To be honest, I mostly use budget-friendly yarn from Zeeman and Wibra, two discount stores here in the Netherlands. Their yarn is mostly sold in skeins. So every time I buy new yarn now, I'll get out the yarn winder before I start crocheting.
There is one small downside, though. If you don't finish the entire cake, the remaining yarn will become quite loose. You'll probably want to rewind it into a smaller cake.
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| Remaining pink yarn |
One unexpected bonus? Yarn cakes actually take up less space than skeins! My cabinet was almost overflowing before, and now I suddenly have plenty of room again.
Perfect... now I have an excuse to buy more yarn!
The good news is: it really isn't something I would worry about too much. When you wind yarn, there is of course some tension on it, but if you don't wind your cake extremely tightly, the amount of stretching is usually very small.
It can also depend on the type of yarn you are using.
Acrylic yarn is quite forgiving and I wouldn't worry about it at all. It has some stretch and can handle being wound into a cake quite well.
Wool and other animal fibres have more natural elasticity. They can be temporarily stretched when wound tightly, so I wouldn't store them in a very tight cake for a very long time. If you are only winding your yarn before starting a project, though, I wouldn't worry about it.
Cotton is less stretchy than wool or acrylic. Because of this, I would be a little more careful not to wind it too tightly.
And then there are all the different yarn blends, of course. A cotton-acrylic blend, for example, will behave differently from a wool-acrylic blend.
Personally, I don't think this is a reason not to cake your yarn. I make yarn cakes because I like how neat they look and how easy they are to use. Just don't pull the yarn as tight as you possibly can while winding. A firm cake is fine. It doesn't have to be rock hard. :)
If you are storing a yarn cake for a long time, especially one made from wool or another animal fibre, I would simply wind it a little more loosely.
Two Extra Tips
Remove the yarn label, roll it up, and tuck it into the center of your freshly wound cake. That way you'll always know the brand, colour, dye lot, and yarn details.
Use a small hair clip to secure the yarn end to the outside of the cake. It keeps the yarn from unwinding while it's being stored.
Happy yarn winding!
Thank you so much!
©Kate's Cozy Crochet
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