Knitting swift plans

[Raven907]

My mom is visiting for the holidays and she took me to the yarn store to pick out yarn to make me some socks. They had an umbrella style swift for winding yarn. My mom said she has a squirrel cage style swift, but it is not the greatest one. Does anyone out there have plans for a quality swift, either style? I could probably come up with something using carriage bolts and wing nuts, but I was hoping for something more heirloom quality.

Thanks,

[Timberwolf]

I made a horizontal swift for a lady friend a couple of years ago but I just used a picture in a catalog for my model...You may be able to do something similar...I recommend using Boxwood {if you can find it}..It just gets better looking with age and it's extremely fine grain is a joy to work with. I would also use brass fittings.

[PeteW]

Not being familiar with the knitting swift I had to Google it - and then realised I'd seen one before. I'm pretty sure Roy Underhill describes one in the Woodwright's Workbook (my woodworking library is in boxes right now). Don't know if there's full plans - perhaps someone else can confirm?

[Phil S.]

Yup - season 3, episode 11. Here's a trailer-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4LAwTWedUk

Doesn't show much except the beginning few minutes of the show. You get a glimpse of a swift as Roy enters the shop, but that's it in this clip.

[hankgillette]

I saw this Amish Yarn Swift on Etsy. I don’t know if you would consider this heirloom quality, but I think it looks nice (has kind of a Shaker feel to it) and doesn’t look like it would be difficult to make without a plan.

[JGrout]

this one is stupid simple

LOML prefers it over the umbrella style swift

https://youtu.be/Fu-1UdQb9i0

[gjohn]

Here is a link to a plan for an Amish style one:

Knitting swift

[Raven907]

Looks like the answer is more Roy. I should have known! Thanks for all the help!