Winding Bobbels

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Winding Bobbels, Part 2





(unfortunately the great colors don't show up that well... )


Dear all,

since I currently really enjoy making all kinds of things from Bobbels, but often need completely different yardages than the usual ones (e.g. for a little children's dress ), I have now ordered “a few” cones of yarn and want to put together my own Bobbels...
I know how it generally works (I can handle the yarn winder, and I understand that for 3-strand gradient yarn you need a total of 9 strands [so I wind “mini balls” for myself beforehand] )...
And now comes the big “BUT”: how do I calculate in advance how long/heavy the individual “mini balls” need to be so that I reach my desired Bobbel weight?!
It can’t be as simple as (example: 90 g Bobbel ) 30 g of each color and then 1x 15 g, 1x 10 g, 1x 5 g (just to name a simple distribution ) and then always knotting the lightest “1st mini ball” to the heaviest 2nd one, and again the lightest from the 3rd, can it?!

Please help me see what I’m missing...

Thanks : )

Hello dear Claudia,

that’s more or less how I did it now too.
To be exact, I placed my large cone on my digital kitchen scale and then wound small single-strand bobbins, which I then wound together and knotted together.

How do you measure the 100 m? Do you have some kind of yarn measuring tool for that?

Best regards, Nina

But you’re keeping it single-stranded, right? Otherwise, you can’t just change one strand when you’re making the Bobbel....

I recommend a line counter; it’s a fishing accessory and you can get one on eBay or Amazon for very little money.... it works great. That’s how the winders do it too, unless they have it wound by machine.

Yes, I leave it single-stranded.

I actually do have one of those fishing line counters here (I bought it once to measure reflective carry-along yarn)... I could have thought of that.
Do you always put in one strand or all three?

My husband is an angler, so I got him involved right away... haha
lay them all over it together and then wind the bobbel....after the desired intervals, cut one thread, knot on the next one, put them all over the counter again and keep winding...

Great!
Thank you so much!!!
When Carlotta wakes up again in a bit (she’s sleeping ON me ;) ), I’ll look for the yarn meter counter and try making 500 m for a little dress for Franka :)

Best regards

You’re very welcome.... Good luck :-)

So, I’ll add another question:

usually, the color change happens somewhere in the row... but in most of the pictures I’ve looked at, that’s not the case - do you make sure the color change is at the end of the row, and do you cut that part out and tie it on again?

Best regards, Sabine

Not me... I think that’s exactly what makes it special. Look at the blanket here—the transition from pink to Chianti—you can see it a bit there too.

Well, that brings me to a question of my own. What kind of yarn winder do you use? There are so many different ones available.
Best regards, Carola

@Claudia,

I like it anyway—I’m just always surprised that the color transitions are at the edges. Do they cut those out later? 

First, I decide in advance what length I want the Bobbel to be and how many sections it should have, and also whether it should be 3- or 4-ply.

Then I draw it out, assigning a letter to each color.

It then looks like this (example: 3-ply)

AAA
AAB
ABB
BBB
BBC
BCC
CCC

I then have 7 sections. If I want 1,200 meters, I just have to divide that by 7 and know how many meters each section needs to be before the strand is changed.

I also use a yarn meter counter; it’s practically indispensable.

I wind mini cones too, because I don’t feel like setting up 3 or 4 cones of each color, and I don’t have the space for it either. ;-)

I also write it down beforehand like Michaela does; I usually make the lengths of the “solid-color sections” (i.e., where all the strands are the same color) longer than the transitions.

@ Sabine,

I have no idea.....maybe they just start crocheting and then change the yarn after the end of a row, without winding a cake beforehand. Or it just happens to work out, that’s often the case for me too. Or you simply don’t see it because it was photographed cleverly.....


Thank you so much for all the great tips!
The “letter system” is clever—I’ll definitely use that too!
I had the line counter handy and just wound a mini yarn cake (~300 m/60 g).
I didn’t stick to a regular length for the color changes, though—I just went with the flow :)

I’m going to make a shirt for Franka out of it :)

This is my yarn winder:




You can find it under “Large Yarn Winder.” It’s very sturdy and a breeze to use!
By the way, I don’t cut the yarn at the end of each round—I actually like the “wild” look at the transitions!

@Nina, thanks for the picture. Now I know roughly what I need to look for :)

One more tip about the winder:

Use a jumbo winder; the small ones work too, but they don’t hold much yardage.

The small ones top out at around 500 meters. They can just barely manage to wind a skein of sock yarn....

I have a question too—maybe someone can explain this to me.
I’ve been winding like this for quite a while now, using a plan:
AAA
AAB
...


AAAA
AAAB
...

and so on, but I just can’t get it right—or at least not in a way I like—when I want to wind 4 strands using only three colors.
Could someone maybe help me with that?

Hi everyone...

I’ve been following this here with great interest, and I have to say I’m really impressed by what you do and how you make your own yarn cakes. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea about it, so here’s my question... Could someone maybe give me a crash course on how the whole thing works? What kinds of yarn are suitable, where can you get them, and how do you wind and knot them? My local yarn shop doesn’t carry anything like what’s shown here at all. It always annoys me when I buy yarn and then suddenly come across huge monster knots while working with it.

I’d be happy if someone could help me with that. PMs are welcome.

Best regards, Andreas

How about this option, Claudia:

• AAAA
• AAAB
• AABB
• ABBB
• BBBB
• BBBC
• BBCC
• BCCC
• CCCC

What kind of material are these cones made of?

@Petra,
What this NM 30/2 is, someone else will have to explain to you ;-)
I just copied it from the page where I choose the colors and pass them on to the person who winds them for me^^^....
50% cotton / 50% acrylic, NM 30/2.Kind regards, Sabine

30/2 is perfect, that's all I use. The number indicates the yarn weight: the lower the first number, the thicker the yarn...

@ Creat Owl,
I'm sure you mean Michaela — I don't make a note of letters ;-)

I meant claudia1681 :)

Oops... sorry, I missed that comment...

Hi. I’d like to know which yardage counter you use (there seem to be two types) and also how? Don’t you have the crank in one hand and the strands in the other?! Best regards, Annika

Hi everyone, what kind of yarn winder do you use? I have a regular one, but what do you use when you need a bigger one :-)
Thanks for the tips :-)
Claudia

It’s really interesting that you can make the Bobbel yourself, too.
My question is about exactly how it works.
If I buy a large cone, do I first have to wind it onto 3 small cones? (if I want to have 3-ply Bobbel).
Or is the large cone already 3-ply?

I would really appreciate any tips.

Steffi

Hi Steffi!
Cones are available to buy as single-ply. From one cone, you then wind smaller cones, depending on how many strands you want, e.g. three. Alternatively, you can also buy three large cones, but then they cost three times as much accordingly, and you’ll have an awful lot of yarn sitting around, because you need several colors for one gradient cake.

So if you want to wind, for example, a gradient cake that contains six colors in total, you buy six individual cones (cost approx. €90), then wind three smaller cones from each large cone - then you already have 18 small cones sitting around. With those, you can then wind your gradient cake according to the letter pattern. Of course, you’ll still have the 18 cones with the leftover yarn sitting around anyway ;-)

There are now tons of online shops that offer gradient cakes in your desired length and with different numbers of strands in your preferred colors. For starters, something like that is more advisable. Only if you really knit up lots of gradient cakes or sell them yourself is winding them yourself worth it. At least that’s my opinion ;-)
Best regards, Sabine

Hi Sabine,

thanks for your opinion and the tips.

I’ll have to think carefully about whether I want to do this too.
It would be a great idea to make them myself and sell them.
But my budget isn’t big enough for that. I’ll have to think it through carefully, and you also need space and a lot of material.

I have a question too. How can you prevent the little balls from getting tangled? I wound my first Bobbl. Everything went great, but toward the end of the little balls, the end of the yarn got tangled with the yarn I was winding. Untangling that is incredibly frustrating. I had placed the little balls on cardboard tubes after winding them. Best regards.

Sorry, me again. Not felting, but fitzen, and instead of “wackelnden Faden” — “wickelnden Faden”.

Hello haekelmaus58

Did you unwind the small Bobbels from the inside? Then the opening in the center gradually gets bigger, and you can easily slide them onto the cardboard tubes, for example. Then nothing should really get tangled. Towards the end, you should turn the winder more slowly and guide the strands well with your hand ;-)

Best regards, Sabine 

Hi everyone! There are different types of gradient winding! I can work out the normal and short gradients, but I’m stumped by the soft gradient where no color appears on its own! Do you know what I mean? Is there a formula for that too, like AAA AAB? Thanks in advance and best regards, Nina

I have a completely different problem when winding gradient yarn. Calculating the lengths works perfectly—I wind each individual strand according to its length and color. But when I try to combine the 3 or 4 strands, the lengths never match up. There’s always a lot left over from the single-strand bobbins. What am I doing wrong? 

I'll wind the strands to the required length right away, and then I'll make special Bobbels from the leftovers :-)

Hello everyone
I’ve also been thinking for a while about winding my own Bobbels. 
About how long does it take you to wind 1000 m?

Best regards
Martina

Hi everyone, I’d like to try this too.
Where do you buy the cones?

Best regards,
Elle

Hi everyone, I wound my first Bobbel yesterday and I’m feeling a little desperate right now. It has an enormous number of loops and I don’t know why. :(
I wound it relatively slowly and let the strands run between my fingers. But even so, I have a lot of loops (meaning that one individual strand is sometimes longer than the other two)

Does anyone happen to have a tip for me? :)

What are you using to wind it? You have to keep the strands nice and taut! LG

Using the same winder shown here—the large one available on Amazon (I can’t take a picture right now).

What’s the best way to tension the strands? ???? 

Oh, okay, now I know which one you mean! Just hold it tightly between your thumb and index finger—really tight! Don’t hold it loosely, or it won’t work ;-)

Okay, then I’ll try again first thing tomorrow. Thanks. Hopefully it’s all just a matter of practice.

But it’s definitely fun ????

Oops, I forgot the question mark :D 

Yes, definitely! ???? I wind them myself now ????

Those question marks were smileys from me, of course—even without the :-D.

I have another question right away :)

When I wind the gradient yarn cake (I also have the jumbo winder from A***), the cake doesn't really look nice from the top. I've already figured out that if I let the yarn run through only one of the guide wires, then the cake looks really great, but unfortunately the winder then makes a terrible scraping noise and scratches the plastic off underneath.

Is there perhaps some trick for this?

Hi!
Is it put together correctly? Or did you mix something up while assembling it?
Actually, the result looks good. You can see the color gradient really well in mine. It only starts to get messy when the spindle is almost full. But in your picture, it doesn’t actually look full yet.
Best regards 

Yes, I watched some videos too, and this yarn cake is quite small at 500 m.

The gentle color gradient is wound like this:
Aab
Abb
Bbc 
Bcc

Good morning, everyone! I just stumbled upon your group and have a question right away: I’d like to wind some gradient yarn! I have a yarn winder and a yarn counter, but… where and how do I attach the yarn counter? I have no idea how to do it—or do you guys just hold the counter in your hand? I’m pretty stumped right now!!

I’d really appreciate any tips!

Hello quattimo,

I clamped a thin cutting board under the winder. The little board sticks out toward the front, and I attach the cord counter to it. 

Best regards, Birgit

I clip mine to the rod of my desk lamp. 

I’d also like to wind my own Bobbel yarn cakes. Is there a video somewhere that I can watch to see how a three- or four-strand Bobbel is wound?

Where do you buy your cones?

No, there’s no guide for winding bobbins! You won’t find anything about it online! Everyone who winds them has learned it on their own! Just give it a try ☺️

Hi, everyone,
I’ve already looked for a video, but it really doesn’t seem to exist anywhere. Learning it yourself really is the best method.

Would someone share the shawl winding method? To get to 1000 m? Many offer 1000 m, but I can't get to 1000! That confuses me!

Hi everyone, which yarn counter can you recommend? I’m really starting to get desperate. I’ve already tested 5 different ones and always get different lengths even though it’s the same Bobbel ????

Wow, that’s a lot of information. But one question remains unanswered: where can you get cones, and when winding smaller cones, do you need a winder onto which you can place cardboard cones, or do you wind the smaller cones directly without them? 

Hi Lotta,
I don’t wind yarn myself, but my Bobbel supplier also offers cones.

Maybe just try typing “buy cones” into your search engine.
You should find what you’re looking for there.

I didn’t understand the part about winding for a shawl either.

Is there really no one who could explain shawl winding to me? :(

Hello, can someone tell me how to wind a 3-strand Bobbel with 6 colors, meaning what sequence to use.

Many thanks in advance

Hi Elena, there’s a diagram as an example further up. I do have some small test cones here now, but I haven’t tried it myself yet either. Feel free to share your experiences. 

Hello, I have a question.
I’d like to know if it’s possible to mix different yarn thicknesses?
For example, 50/2 and 56/2, or is that something you shouldn’t do?

I hope someone here knows, but I think this can work.

Hello everyone, I have a question: how can I calculate a shawl wrap?

Thank you :-) 

Hello, since I’d also like to teach myself how to wind yarn, I have a question for you:
With a 3-strand Bobbel, there are 3 strands running alongside each other, right? Why
do you write 9 strands??? Sorry, maybe it’s a silly question—I just don’t know much about it yet—but thanks for the answer. Best regards

Oops, I’m not just new to winding yarn—I’m new here, too. I thought the reply would go right below Zwergnase’s. But maybe someone else here can answer me. That would be so kind.

Hi Chrissi60, I don’t wind the yarn myself, but take a look under the first post by Zwergnasebaer—Claudia wrote there (the text is highlighted in green)

that since you start with 3 strands of the same color, that’s already 3 strands (balls); then you add one strand of a new color, and you already have 4 different strands.

Maybe that way you’ll end up with 9 strands by the end of the Bobbel. 

That could be it—thank you so much. I’m going to buy myself a yarn winder as a Christmas present and then I’ll give it a try. Wishing you a wonderful Christmas—warm regards from Chrissi

This probably means 9 color sections.
A 3-strand Bobbel of 1000 m, for example with a color gradient of 3 colors, has a total of 9 color sections.
1st strand with colors a, b, c
429 m, 429 m, 143 m
2nd strand
286 m, 429 m, 286 m
3rd strand
143 m, 429 m, 429 m

At least that is the case with an even color distribution.

With a shawl winding, it gets a bit more complicated.
It also depends on the shape of the triangular shawl (flat, pointed, ...); the angle is crucial for the visual evenness of the color distribution.

Are you guys still busy winding yarn?

Because of the current situation, I’m so swamped at my main job that I’m just glad whenever I get a chance to use knitting or crochet needles. Winding yarn… postponed until “sometime,” but I really like the tips here! 

Hello everyone,
I wanted to ask something too. Maybe someone could give me a tip. I bought used cones on eBay and wanted to use them to wind gradient bobbles. But how do I separate the 2 strands from the cone onto 2 individual cones? Was buying 2-ply yarn a mistake? Or is there a trick for separating the strands from each other? I would be very grateful for a tip. Otherwise I’ll have 50 cones standing around here 😱.
Best wishes
Melanie

Dear Melanie
I imagine it would be very difficult to separate the strands from the cones.
For winding yarn cakes, you should use
single-ply cones. Best regards
Martina

Thanks for the feedback. So I can only wind two strands per color. That was an impulse buy. A lesson learned the hard way...

How’s it going with the Bobbel yarn cakes?

So, either I’m totally clueless or it’s the heat right now: I want to make a Bobbel with 3 strands and 3 different colors. I start with the first solid color using 3 strands. When do I need to cut the first strand and knot on the new color? After 100 m, or how does that work with the gradient? Does anyone have a chart you can follow?

I’ve now wound a few yarn cakes using

AAA
AAB
ABB
BBB, etc.

And with a gentle color gradient.

But I’d like to wind something more unusual sometime.
Are there any other options that look good?

Hi everyone :)
I’ve now gotten everything I need for winding... I just have one question (maybe I’m overcomplicating things): where do you place the cones when unwinding? So they don’t roll all over the place while you’re winding...? I hope you understand what I mean....
Thanks and best regards, Janina

Maybe someone else would like to add something?

The letter system is great. Thanks for the tip..........a m a z i n g

Hey, do you have any good tips on where to get these cones?

Best regards 

From the manufacturer, on eBay, or in yarn shops.
Manufacturers include Schäfer or tvu, for example.

A paper towel holder. Or you can place the cones in bowls.

Where do you guys get the cone yarn for winding? I need some tips!
I’d like to wind my own bobbles in the new year

I built a wooden frame where the threads from the cones go up through eyelets, from there through the counter, and onto the winder.

Hi, the frame is a great idea. I’ll try to put that into practice. But unfortunately, I have a different problem when winding. I just can’t seem to get the bobble right so that you can see the color gradient. I always only see the top color. Maybe someone has a tip for me.

Hello
I don’t know if I’m allowed to ask this here?
I have 4 strands of 30/2 yarn, and according to the counter they came to 1,700 m and weigh 1,400 g.
Can that be right?
Or is there some kind of conversion formula for meterage?
Regards, Brigitte

Hi Brigitte, 
no, that can’t be right...
50 g is about 750 m for 1 strand 
With 4 strands, 200 g = 750 m
You would then need to have a little more than 600 g... 
Best, Janina 

Hi Janina 
First of all, thanks
A mistake crept in
I have 4 strands of 30/2 and according to the counter they ran 1,700 m and weigh 400 g.
Kind regards brigitte 

Yes, of course ... I miscalculated there too ... but then it works out 😄

Best regards, Janina 

Hi, thanks

With 4 strands, 200 g =
750 m

With 4 strands, 400 g = 1500 m

With 4 strands, 300 g = 1125 m

With 5 strands, 250 g = 750 m 

Thanks, best regards, Brigitte 

I know what you mean; depending on the winder, a slight twisting happens.
So the strands, e.g. 3 strands, twist together slightly.
The so-called satellite winders do that, the ones with the metal arms that wind the yarn into the Bobbel (the Bobbel itself also rotates along with it).

With a wobble winder, like the one from Bommes, the Bobbel is wound onto an angled tube that also rotates around its own axis.

For this reason, the strands run stably alongside each other and do not twist into one another.
The result usually looks rather modest.
The appearance of a color gradient can be completely missing.

I had also experimented a lot with that and got rather modest results.
So there was no way around forcing the twisting by having the individual strands each run through the other cones.
That way, they are practically wrapped by the running strands.
But that required another special stand.
The thread guiding and calming are also important, and not least thread brakes.
The adjustment really is important; otherwise a Bobbel, usually once it is already larger, can become unbalanced and then you get cross threads.
Wobble winders are somewhat sensitive in that respect.

Oh no, something’s not right.
You had Nm 30/2 yarn, right?

With this yarn, 30 m weighs 2 g

A 1,000 m 3-ply yarn cake = 200 g
1,000 m 4-ply = 267 g
1,700 m 4-ply = 454 g

1,700 / 30 = 57
57 * 2 = 114 g for one strand; 114 g * 4 = 456 g

Including rounding errors 😁

That’s explained really well! Thanks, Marco! 
I’m still trying to find the right “winder” for me, too… Crossed threads really aren’t nice. 

400 g is still too light for a 1700/4 bobble yarn.
If you’re using a yarn counter, you could add 14% to your yardage calculation—so for 4-ply yarn, add 3.5% per skein.
Basically, calculate the yardage based on 1760 m, and then it should be correct.

Yarn counters usually have some variation; if you’re aware of this, you can adjust accordingly.
But yarns also have tolerances and can vary slightly in weight depending on the color.

Here is the new thread / Part 2 about winding yarn cakes, so you don’t have to scroll so much.
Just continue posting in the link:
Winding yarn cakes, Part 2