Rotating Yarn Holder

by bobcat1947

38K7915

Intro: Rotating Yarn Holder

Easy to make rotating holder for yarn that allows the spool to be used up easily.
It looks good and works beautifully.

My wife was about to buy one online for $30.00 made of wood and with a mini lazy susan
bearing set to make it rotate smoothly.  We decided to make our own and found the mini
lazy susan for $2.99 on line (Amazon marketplace, VXB bearings. 
The original intent was to use wood discs from a craft store,
but we couldn't find the size needed (6" or under).   A light bulb lit up over my wife's head :=)
when she thought of using a CD container which has a buit-on upright shaft.  Works beartifully. Here's what you'll need :
a glue gun.
mini lazy susan (3") ...VXB Bearings on Amazon marketplace...$2.99 plus shipping.
an empty CD (or DVD) container.
short piece of 3/4" pvc pipe (ours worked out at 3 1/2 inches without the end cap.
end cap for pvc.
Empty the CD container and simply put any blank CDs in the 'lid' of the container.
Using the glue gun, put a SMALL amount of glue at each corner of one side of the lazy susan
and set it down over the shaft, using care to 'eyeball' the alignment. Easy to do. Now your bearing set
is glued to the base of your thing-a-ma-jig.
Place a CD (or in this case, DVD) over the shaft and let it rest on top of the bearing set.
No need to glue this down. You'll see.
Slide the PVC tube over the shaft and top it with an end cap.
Putcher darn yarn ball over the top and go to town.




14 Comments

Wineberry 12 years ago

I added a non-skid round to the base. I didn't feel that I needed the PVC- why did you use it. the 3/4" was very loose on the spindle. I found a place online to buy the bearing at .64 each. I showed mine to some knitting groups that I belong to and ended up purchasing 150 bearings. This is a terrific item.

bobcat1947 12 years ago

Glad you liked it and improved on it. The non-skid base wasn't needed for us, where my uses it.
I put the PVC shaft on it because my wife didn't care for the way the ball of yarn wobbled because the shaft of the CD case didn't reach the top of the ball; however, once the PVC was installed to extend the height of the shaft, I found it necessary to put an end cap on the PVC so the yarn wouldn't snag on the top edge of the shaft.

sandycraig0 12 years ago

This is great im in a wheelchair and losing my yarn is a pain. My children think its hilarious as I roll forward trying to catch the offending ball only to end up with yarn caught up in the wheels. Just bought my lazy susan thingy from ebay (im in Australia) now I just need to figure out how to attach the whole thing to my wheelchair and no more comedy routines for me. Any ideas on attaching it?

bobcat1947 12 years ago

Crikey ! :) I'm glad it appealed to you, and my mind leans towards a clamp of some sort, but it's not clear to me just how it could be done without seeing the wheelchair. Are your children old enough to be helpful in rigging something up?

craftknowitall 12 years ago

The lazy susan bearings came today and I had mine put together in less than 10 minutes. My husband was impressed. He was especially impressed that I now know where to buy lazy susan bearings. Thanks so much for your Instructable.

bobcat1947 12 years ago

You are so welcome. That was my wife's idea of using the empty CD case.
Your husband might might enjoy my other instructables that deal with bicycle stuff.

Ysabeau 12 years ago

Awesome! Not as nice than a wooden one, but, with the skein on your rotating yarn holder, it's invisible. If I want to try this kind of tool, I'll probably make my own with your instructables and then see if I want to continue to knit with it or no. The other point is that we all have old CD.

russm313 12 years ago

This is brilliant! Great idea for working with skeins that are not center-pull. Especially when working with crochet thread. I will definitely be doing this for the next doily I make! Thanks for your instructable, it is much appreciated!

scoochmaroo 12 years ago

Very clever! This might even keep my kittens from running off with my yarn. . .

fonzuzu 12 years ago

lol, maybe if you could wrap it with something like foil it would deter them. Cats usually dont like the feel and look

ChrysN 12 years ago

Nice, I could use on of those.