The Swift

   One of the presents that C gave me for Christmas last year was a swift. It isn't something that moves fast. (Well, maybe it can...) It doesn't sing country music. It can't fly. What it can do is make my life a little easier.
   What he gave me is a yarn swift. A yarn swift is a device used by knitters and those who crochet. It holds a hank of yarn and allows the hank to be wound into a ball. I have no idea how old swifts are. Wikipedia says that there are some from the 18th and 19th that are valuable antiques.
  Most good quality yarn comes in a hank. A hank, according to Wikipedia, is a coiled or twisted unit of yarn. When you untwist a hank it looks like a giant circle. It is impossible to use the yarn when it is like this. It has to be wound into a ball.
  In order to wind the ball, you need something to hold the hank. Otherwise, it gets twisted and tangled. You can recruit someone to hold the hank, but that requires another person to take time, sometimes a lot of time, to help out. I've been told that using the back of a straight wooden chair works well. I've used the arm of a couch. It didn't go well. I don't recommend it.
  A swift looks something like the underside of an umbrella. Like an umbrella, you pull the arms out to the desired length. The hank goes around the outside edge of the swift. It's held in place by the length of the arms and also by the "V" shape at the end of the arms.
  Once the hank is in place the next thing you do is find the end. Once you've found it you can begin winding. The swift spins around making the job of winding much faster.
  I finally got to use it this week. I had to wind a ball of yarn for a shawl I plan to knit while we are on vacation. This yarn is tricky to wind because it is not the same thickness throughout.  I placed the yarn on the swift, found the end and began to wind. It was wonderful. The yarn came easily off the swift. It didn't tangle or stick to itself. In less than an hour, I had a ball of yarn that looked so nice it could almost be used as a decoration as is.
  I was tempted to wind a few more balls just because it was so easy and fun to use. I restrained myself because I read once that is it better not to wind unless you are going to use the balls right away.
  Another thing I like about my swift is that it is beautiful. I'm not sure what kind of wood it is made from. Whoever made it stained it a nice warm brown. The grain of the wood can easily be seen. It has a good coat of varnish that gives it a nice shine. I'd keep it out as a decoration and conversation piece, but the cats would probably knock it over and break it. I keep it on the top of my knitting cabinet where I can admire it and look forward to using it again