This morning I mended my swift. It required hemp twine, pva glue and a piece of a wooden coffee stirrer (courtesy of First Great Western Trains). The stirrer acts as a splint and the twine secures the pieces together with the help of the glue. I also reinforced two old repairs with glue and twine, so I’m hoping that it’s fairly robust now:
Splint in place and the beginnings of the repair
All mended
And so this is what the complete set-up looks like, with a hank on the swift and some of the yarn transferred onto the winder:
The complete set up
And, by special request, here it is in action (excuse the wobbles):
The Snail of Happiness 
Linda Winn
/ May 11, 2014Ingenious!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 11, 2014It’s so quick compared to chair legs and winding by hand!
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writinghouse
/ May 11, 2014Or Mr SOH’s arms and winding by hand!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 11, 2014I don’t have a movie of that!
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wscottling
/ May 11, 2014I love my swift and winder! It makes me want to wind everything, even my store-bought, & traded skeins of yarn. ^_^
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 11, 2014It’s a remarkably soothing activity… and the resulting ‘balls’ are so easy to use!
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revdarkwater
/ May 11, 2014(claps in delight) Thank you!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 11, 2014It’s a pleasure… I feel like I’ve got a new toy!
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nerdinthebrain
/ May 11, 2014Fantastic! I was foiled in my attempts to buy second-hand today…I need a new ignition switch for my little Corolla, but the salvage yard is closed. *sigh* I shall try again tomorrow! I’m so glad your repairs have been successful!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 11, 2014Good luck.. I’m glowing with success… all six hanks wound in double-quick time!
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katechiconi
/ May 11, 2014I love it when old technology works brilliantly. Pity the ball winder had to be plastic – I could envisage some lovely cast iron object with a long crank, bit like a meat grinder…
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 11, 2014You can get a wooden one, but it costs about £150… I reckon that there would be a good market for an affordable wooden version!
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katechiconi
/ May 11, 2014Take a look at this:
http://thetialys.wordpress.com/category/interesting-vintage-finds
She got hers for about 12 euros. Maybe you should go on eBay France!
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itwasjudith
/ May 11, 2014just managed to get a used one myself… thanks for reminding me about it 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 12, 2014Yay – I’m sure there are lots of them hidden in cupboards out there, needing a good home!
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davidprosser
/ May 11, 2014Looks like you’ve done a great job. Well done.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 12, 2014Well, it’s still in one piece…I think I need to find a suitable box in which to store it safely. I’m really pleased with this combination and how efficiently they work together.
xxx rotating hugs xxx
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katythenightowl
/ May 12, 2014When I think of the hours I had to endure, arms out, and sitting very still, so my Mum, or Nan, or Great-Nan, could wind up skeins of yarn, I could scream! Lol
You’ve really had a wonderful find there, and your repair was ingenious, Jan! 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 12, 2014I just hope the repair holds – it looks good for now anyway. Ah yes – hours of stiff arms, I remember that too!
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gentlestitches
/ May 12, 2014It is great. I want it! 😀
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 12, 2014I’m sure that anyone who could construct these would be able to make a fortune… especially if they were wooden.
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narf77
/ May 12, 2014“Perfick” as Delboy would have said. And you were able to put it out into the ether and let the universe deliver. I have found that the more I give away, the more “available” things tend to be when I actually need them. My fully enclosed veggie garden bed only has 2 large beds in it because that’s what we initially built but now that I have MUCH more room inside I need to build more raised beds and that costs money that we just don’t have at the moment (who am I kidding…probably won’t have EVER! 😉 ) so that’s where you put things out to the universe and this time the universe delivered me 5 trailer loads of spent aged horse manure and straw and a promise of a trailer load a month and the eternal gratitude of a local horse owner thrown in for good measure. “Ask and you shall receive” never a truer word was spoken but I get the feeling that you have to be generous as well to make this equation truly work to the greatest advantage for all
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 12, 2014I’m getting much better at giving things away… I just seem to have lots of ‘stuff’ around that no one needs… obviously I need some different friends to pass it all on to!
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narf77
/ May 13, 2014Do you have Freecycle in the U.K.? I have given lots of stuff away via Freecycle 🙂 You could also use your equivalent of Craig’s list, we have Gumtree here where you can list things for free
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 13, 2014Yes we have Freecycle… I’ve got rid of a few things that way, but never seem to be able to find things I need… although I do keep looking (ever hopeful)
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Ann Owen
/ May 13, 2014That’s a proper bit of old magic, that! Like Kate said, shame the winder is plastic, otherwise it would have been very steam punk and with the right old tune, the video might have gone viral!! Thanks Jan, well done.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ May 13, 2014The wooden ones seem to be very rare… still I’m happy that it all works and didn’t cost the earth!
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