I’ve been making yarn cake!
From a big mess of sock yarn, various sized balls with who-knows how many yards left on them. I can simply run the balls through this yarn meter thing, on to a ball-winder (both acquired very recently)…
… make a label of what it is and how many yards are on the ‘cake’, then tie both ends together to the label and tuck label inside. No more loose ends getting tangled! Shown here, a full skein from the swift, through the meter, on to the ball winder.
Slowly I’m making order of chaos, and feeling a bit transformed by this insane yarn tidiness!
Jenjoyce Design 
Definitely the time of year to sort stuff out!
Agreed, most definitely! 😉
That’s too cool. I have the ball winder but not the thing that measures yardage. Happy spinning chookie! X
Kelly, as I was given the winder & meter for my birthday, now I can’t seem to stop finding urgent need for them! 🙂 xx
I thought I was fine just weighing for yardage , but I gotta admit , the meter sure makes it easier, and also for yarn with no labels and one hasn’t a clue how many yards/meters per gram, one needs a meter. 🙂
How cool!!!
It is!
What a great idea.
Lizzi, I was tried & true to the gram scale to figure all my yardage, but this set up really can’t be beat. Especially with label-less yarns!
And admittedly, I love the way I can tie off the end so that it doesn’t go rogue in the yarn basket. LOL.
How satisfying. And the cake towers are very aesthetic.
So true, and I am considering decorating some of the beams around here with them! 🙂
Perfect!
I am so in love with my swift and winder! But now I NEED the yarn measurer!! I do like the look of neat and tidy balls of yarn.
Amy I agree, you do need one! 😉 😉
I try to wind up leftovers if it’s that much. I want to buy a nostepinne at STITCHES this year to help wind up the little balls. I started keeping yarn tags and tying on a small piece of it so I’ll know that the leftover is. I can’t tell you how many little, black balls of yarn are unidentified here.
A nostepinne is the really timeless non-mechanical maker, and I had in mind to try to make one. I just realized as I say this, that about 3 years I bought impulsively a wooden (icecream) cone wafer shaper from my favorite kitchen store , and that could work too.
I’ve changed my mind, I don’t think the icecream cone shaper would work well…
Picture of nostepinne here: http://mamas2hands.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/pine-nostepinne1.jpg
Picture of cone shaper thing here: http://cdnimg3.webstaurantstore.com/images/products/extra_large/3735/490036.jpg