Indulgence?

I've been contemplating a swift and yarn winder for quite some time and have spent hours reading other knitters' comments about whether owning these tools are worth the money and space.  My wonderful LYS is always willing and happy to wind a hank or two of newly bought yarn, but I often go with a project in mind which means that I buy several hanks in one visit.


Still not having made up my mind, I saw a terrific sale for a made in Italy swift and promptly put it into my virtual shopping cart.  But then, as is my habit, I left the item in my cart to brood over the purchase a little longer.  At some point I took the swift out of the cart and kept on thinking.  Should I or shouldn't I?  M, who is my trusty hank holder while I wind yarn into balls, reminded me how much we like doing this task together.  But then again, as she said, "it does take a long time to wind just one hank of wool."  And then my blogger friend, Indigocraft, posted a great piece about her new swift and I knew my answer!

Back into the cart the swift went along with a much-desired yarn winder! The package arrived a few days ago, but I only just found time to set the swift and winder up and test it out.  Call it love, call it need -- the swift and winder are tools that will enhance every knitter's experience and while I'm sure I'll wind hanks of wool into balls with M on occasion, I also know that these tools will be a huge help when working on a large project with lots of skeins to wind. Hint, hint -- I'll be posting about a new (and somewhat big) project that I'll be starting later this week. Not only am I thrilled to be able to wind up hanks in only a few minutes, I really LOVE how they turn into these scrumptious little cakes!