Sidewinder As A Yarn Ball Winder

The members of the Unraveler's forum on Ravelry have been talking about DIY ways of winding yarn. Here's my current way of doing it. The super fine yarn from the current sweater was too much to wind by hand.

Cut open a toilet paper tube. Wrap it *snugly* around a sewing machine bobbin to measure the amount of paper tube needed, butt the edges and cut to fit. Tape the seam with masking tape.

I tried both three, and four and a half inch long tubes. Three inches worked better because there was less wobble as it wound on the Sidewinder. The pictures below show the four and a half inch tube.

Hold the yarn end on the tube until the first few wraps hold it in place. I wind straight to the tube and by pass the Sidewinder's tension because the yarn's too thick.

The four and a half inch long tube wobbled a LOT, so I balanced it with my thumb. Press the green power button in short bursts and manually disperse the yarn along the tube.

Two things to keep in mind: Don't wind any yarn down at the base of the tube and make sure the keeper - see arrow in photo - is all the way to the left, otherwise it will shut off the winder.

Continue to wind slowly by pushing the power in short bursts. After about 3/4 of the way along, I took it off and wound the rest by hand. The ball above is on a three inch tube and looks smooth because I finished with hand winding. -- I probably won't do too much of this; the Sidewinder cost over 20.00. I don't want to burn it out!