This very popular yarn wonder comes as Roal, Empilsa and Silver yarn or ball winder.
When I inherited this strange-looking Royal Ball winder, I quickly dismissed it and kept it in a drawer. It was when I was still in love with my KnitPicks ball winder and did not knit at high volumes from big skeins of yarn. But the more I read and participated in FB group exchanges, I realized how valuable it is to some people and I decided to give it try.
First – why I found it strange. At a glance, it looks like an old grammar hair curler was glued to stuck. Would not you agree? Second, the way to thread the yarn through the whole device and (how I discovered later) around the “hair curler” is not intuitive at all. Check out my video of failed attempts.
However, this small device is pretty mighty. You can place a detachable cone on it and wind the yarn directly on it and then remove. I managed to wind 6 oz of yarn. (However, in my opinion, it looked pretty ugly and not like a cone at all! )
I very much liked that it has a built-in and easy-to-screw-in table clamp. So, I would not worry about losing the clamp like with other winders. However, I felt that the thread started weakening as I had to tighten it during the process of wounding the yarn. I also feel that this yarn winder might not be attached to all tables – too thick or too thin table might not work with it.
Below are pros and cons of this Royal Yarn Winder:
(+) can work with detachable plastic cones
(+) has built-in table clamp – you don’t have to worry about loosing it
(+) can handle large skeins of yarn
(+) even slippery yarns don’t slide in the middle of your wounding (like on some other yarn winders).
(+) compact
Cons:
(-) Hard to find
(-) I feel that the screw thread for the clamps inside the body might get broken with age… I somewhat observed it with both yarn winders I tested – I had to tighten them quite a bit during the wounding.
(-) threading the yarn through was not straight-forward and intuitive for me
(-) I wish the large cake looked a bit prettier after it is all done But it is in no way a deal braker for me.
(-) might not be attached to a wide range of tables due to the clamp size limitations.
I sold both of my Royal Yarn Winders as I liked my other ones better but I enjoyed testing this one and learning how it works. I hope you will find one soon to introduce yourself to it too
