Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 41 – Three Years Old.
My name is Fay and this is my audio and video podcast for those that love fibre crafts, particularly crochet.  It’s a community for people that like to support their fellow humans regardless of race, gender, sexuality, ability, size or age. I hope you feel the welcome embrace and love of the Crochet Clan.  Come on in and stay awhile. 
 
In this episode, I cover: Review of KnitPro ball winder; Crochet Inclusivity; Final Destination; En Route; Designs in Progress; Feeding the habit; Quick News Beats and J’adore.
 
This podcast is sponsored by my online crafting company, Provenance Craft Co. 


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1 – Review
When I first started my yarn journey, I bought myself a cheap, plastic ball winder because I didn’t know then that crochet and all things yarn would literally take over my life! 
 
 
ALT TEXT: Grey background and close up of cream and red crappy plastic ball winder with a broken metal finger.
 
Over the last couple of months, I have tried a couple of different KnitPro wooden ball winders to see whether they would be a better option for me.  Well, the proof is that I now own one. 
 

ALT TEXT: Grey background with wooden ball winder and orange/grey wool scattered around it.
 
Given that I can be caking up yarn every other day, I thought it was a wise decision. So, here’s what I hate about my old ball winder and love about the new one:
1 – OLD: it creates a very tight cake which means that my yarn is being held under tension.
NEW: the cakes are taller and wider, so the yarn is not under the same amount of tension and pressure.
2 – OLD: it’s mainly made of plastic and is flimsy.
NEW: It’s predominantly made of wood with a little plastic and some metal.  It feels very substantial and durable.
3 – OLD: the metal finger that your yarn is placed through stopped standing on its own after about the third use.
NEW: The metal finger is very firmly in place and does not move as part of the ball winder set-up.
4 – OLD: the cakes almost always get tangled at the bottom of the spinner towards the end of the skein wind.  I have had t o cut my yarn before now, to release it.
NEW: The wooden base that the yarn caked up from is much bigger and can more than cope with the job.
5 – OLD: The ball winder struggles to create neat mini cakes.
NEW: The cakes are neat and seem to be staying in place.  I need to test whether they work well or not though.
6 – OLD: It’s really difficult to get a nice centre pulled ball that doesn’t get knotted up.
NEW: There is a space big enough to get your fingers into to pull the centre yarn from.  The cake seems to have more space in the core, so I am hopeful that the centre pull will be easy and not tangled.
The KnitPro ball winder also makes really pretty looking cakes – I know this isn’t really important, but when you have to photograph yarn as part of your living, it does factor in.
 
 
ALT TEXT: two photos, both with grey backgrounds.  First shows two cakes of identical yarn, the left was wound with the plastic crappy winder and is shorter, denser and messier and the second cake is taller and prettier.  Photo two shows 3 mini skeins (2 pink and a maroon), a green with neon colour pop cake and the brown tweed one from the first photo.
 
The wooden ball winder is clearly much bigger than the plastic one, so you will need more space to operate it, but the proof is in the pudding.
If you are often caking up yarn, then I wholeheartedly recommend this bit of kit.  I bought mine from Nikki at Ewe Felty Thing and it arrived within a week.  It’s not a cheap option at £105 + P&P, however, this is a piece of ess