I did it! I solved the case of my wonky yarn cakes! I imagine others may have the same issue with their ball winders, so I thought I would put together a post on how to fix your yarn ball winder. You can see from the before-and-after images below that something was definitely off!
If your yarn winder isn’t winding correctly, keeps slipping, or is making crooked or uneven yarn cakes, the gears inside the winder may have slipped out of alignment. Luckily, this was a quick fix once I figured out what was causing the problem.
The particular brand I purchased is the Knit Picks Yarn Ball Winder, but I imagine many of them are built the same way. This ball winder is a little workhorse for me and, for the most part, does a great job winding yarn into nice little cakes. The first time I noticed the cakes not winding properly, I called Knit Picks, and they were very good about sending me a new ball winder. But then when it started happening again, I figured it must be something in the internal mechanism that needed adjustment, so I took the winder apart to see.
Keep reading to see how to fix your yarn ball winder.
Why Is My Yarn Winder Not Winding Correctly?
In my case, the problem was caused by the larger plastic gear slipping out of position and sitting on top of the smaller gear instead of meshing with it. Once I repositioned the gears so the teeth fit together properly, the winder worked normally again.
How to Fix Your Yarn Ball Winder
To fix your broken ball winder, you will first need to twist off the cone-shaped bobbin from the main base of the winder.
Next, use a Phillips-head tool to remove the screw from the plate beneath where the bobbin was removed, then remove the plate and set it aside.
Ahhh … here was the issue! You see how in the photo below the larger plastic gear is sitting on top of the small gear? This is why the winder wasn’t winding properly. The gears should mesh so that the teeth fit together properly.
To fix this, gently push the larger gear back away from the smaller one and down until the teeth mesh. It should now look like this.
Now screw the top plate back on and replace the bobbin. All that is left is trying it out. Grab a hank or skein of yarn and wind it up. Perfect!
Have you had this problem? I would love to know if this helped fix it. Let me know in the comments below.
Now that you have your yarn cakes made, read my clever yarn hack for keeping them wound neatly and from turning into a tangled mess while in use or in storage!
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My ball winder is doing exactly this – completely lopsided cakes that are now getting tangled on top of everything. I have a Knitters Pride ball winder and it doesn’t have a screw in the middle like yours’ – it’s a smooth, flat bolt instead which I have no way to remove. I unscrewed the 2 screws at the bottom but it doesn’t take it apart. I’m so frustrated. Any ideas how I can fix mine? I’ve only used mine a few times before this started happening. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Thanks so much! I was very confused why it worked one day and stopped working the next. This fix was great.
Wow! Wow! Wow! Such an easy fix. Thanks for making my day.
Thank you so much!!! This fix saved my son’s sweater.
thank you for the simple and very useful fix!
I am going on a trip for a month and really wanted to ball up several skeins to take with me, and now I can.
Thank you! I fixed my winder with these instructions
Thank you for sharing!!! I’m thrilled to have a working ball winder again!!! 🤗❤👍🏻
Thank you so much!
Thank you!! My KP ball winder is at least 8 years old and has always worked perfectly. Suddenly it started making flying saucer balls (plagiarized from another comment!). Found your solution and fixed the problem in less than 5 minutes. So happy not to have to toss the winder in the recycling bin. Very satisfying to be able to fix the problem. Thanks again.
Oh my word, THANK YOU!!! I got this same yarn winder for Christmas and just started using it today. I noticed that my cakes were all wonky and not pretty anymore. I tried everything I could think of to fix it and tried youtube with no luck. Then I found your video and had it fixed in no time. I also found a new page with lots of cool stuff 😁 Thank you again
Thank You…..Thank You….I can’t Thank You Enough. My ball winder just completely wrapped the yarn the way it wanted to. I followed your instructions and I have my Ball Winder Back. I Missed My Ball Winder. Thank You….Thank You!!!!
I just had a complete meltdown when my winder for no reason stopped working your detailed instructions saved the day… Thank you!!!!