I want to show you one more way to wind a ball of yarn.  This one’s easier, but it takes a bit of hardware, so it may or may not be right for you.

This is a ball winder.  They cost about 45-50 bucks, depending on the brand, which is a little pricey.  If you wind a lot of yarn, it might be a worthwhile investment.  If you only go through a couple skeins of yarn a year, maybe not.  If you don’t want to invest in one for yourself, see if your local yarn store has one available for customers, sometimes they do.

Mine screws to the edge of a bookshelf or table.  I’ve seen ones with handles that you can hold, but that seems like it would be awkward to use, since I don’t have three hands.

When you have your ball winder situated, thread your yarn through the little metal eyelet, and attach the end to the slots at the top of the winder.

Then start twirling the handle and watch the yarn start to wind itself into a ball.

Turning the handle spins the  top part of the winder, which, in turn, winds the yarn into a perfect cake.  Keep going, and watch the yarn build up.  Ooh! Aah!

Once you have wound all the yarn, wrap the end around the outside of the cake a couple times and tie off the end.  Pull the cake from the winder, and you’ve got yourself a perfect center-pull ball of yarn.