StarWeave: Yarn Spinner

In crocheting or knitting, it is common to encounter frustrating problems with the yarn in use. Most of the time, this is because of the way the yarn is bundled, leaving messy inner tangles. Untangling the knots and ensuring you have enough length to continue forces the process to go a lot slower.

This project aims to create a solution for this problem; with a yarn spinner to unwind your yarn as you go, the weaving process becomes a lot smoother and stays continuous. This can allow one to focus more on their current project.

Materials

PLA filament (around less than or half a 1kg spool)

Ball bearing (size is dependent on how big you plan for the spinner to be)

Hot glue or super glue (hot glue was used here so as not to disrupt the spinning mechanism of the ball bearing)

Small circular piece of any material (ex: 25-centavo coin)

Paint/stickers/any decor pieces (optional)

Tools

A computer

A 3D Printer (model used: Creality Ender 3 Pro)

Any 3D Modeling software (Tinkercad, Blender, etc.) that is compatible with your 3D Printer

Cutter

Sandpaper

The spinner is divided into three parts: the plate, the spinning base, and the spike. Plan out the design you plan to make. The planned design used here was a love letter envelope, with the plate as the envelope and the base as the heart. The spike may remain as is.

Begin modeling these parts on your chosen 3D Modeling software. The scale of the spinner depends on you and the type of yarn you plan to use with it; I plan to use Milk Cotton 5-ply yarn, about 50g per skein, so I used the following measurements (in cm):

Plate: 9x9x1.5

Base: 10x10x1.5

Spike: base diameter - 1.5; height - 15

You can adjust these measurements to your liking. Make sure that the base has a small hole for fitting the spike in, with a bit of wiggle room, and that the spike has a jut smaller than the base diameter at the bottom so it can fit easily. The plate should also have a hole big enough to fit the ball bearing.

Load your models in your 3D Printing software (I used Ultimaker Cura). The heart base and spike should have supports so they don't immediately break apart.

Print your pieces in your 3D Printer.

These are what the final products should look like when printed. Remove supports as necessary.

You can choose to print multiple versions of the spike to fit different types of yarn skeins.

Remove supports as necessary. Use a cutter to cut away any stray filament pieces or latticework. Sand the pieces down until smooth/to your preference.

Optionally, you can choose to paint the pieces your desired colors before assembling.

Fit the ball bearing into the hole left in the plate. Ensure that the inner ring can spin smoothly before proceeding.

Glue the small, thin circular piece of material just above the inner ring. Make sure no glue gets caught in the bearing. In this project, I used a 25-centavo coin since it fit perfectly over the inner ring of the bearing. Other materials you can use include acrylic sheet, another 3D printed piece, or smooth wood.

Align your base where you want it to be above your plate; glue the base over the circular piece. Usually, this is where the spike is positioned just above.

Allow glue to dry before use.

Once the glue is dry, you can now use the spinner as intended!

Push a skein of yarn over the spike (the hollow center should give enough room for this). Just hold the end of the thread and start crocheting/knitting; the base will spin on its own.

To take apart for travel, simply detach the spike from its fit. Decorate as you like.