Yarn Swift

A yarn swift, usually called simply a swift, is a fiber craft tool that holds a hank of yarn steady while it is wound off into a ball or cake for knitting, crochet, or weaving. It rotates around a central rod and its diameter adjusts to fit hanks of many sizes. The most common design is the umbrella swift, a wooden frame that folds flat for storage and is favored by hand spinners for its stability and appearance over metal versions. A simpler swift can be built from as few as four rods fixed to a central axis with sliding connecting bands that change the effective diameter, and an Amish style swift instead uses a rotating cross with pegs that reposition to fit different hank sizes. Swifts were developed in the United States and have been made from many materials over time; eighteenth and nineteenth century examples were sometimes carved from whale ivory using scrimshaw work, and surviving antique ivory swifts are now collected. Today knitters and crocheters who buy yarn in hank form use a swift to ball it without tangling or knotting, and weavers sometimes use one when winding a warp from hank form yarn.