Saturday, March 22, 2008

Transformation...

....from tinkertoys to my first ever Swift!! I had a very bored youngest son earlier this week, so he made me a swift from his old hand-me-down tinkertoys that he no longer uses. (He was very happy to comply to my suggestion as he was the last person to be my "human swift"). Recycling something that was just taking up space into something useful is a very good feeling.
We got the idea from Rachel who led us to this blog with a tutorial on how to make a swift from tinkertoys. My very clever son had to do some improvising though because our set of tinkertoys didn't have all the necessary parts. The best thing about this swift besides the obvious "low" cost (if you don't have to go out and buy the tinkertoys), is the fact that it is collapsible and therefore very portable and easy to store.

Here is a picture of the swift with a huge skein of yarn:
Seems to be very stable and spins freely. Now I'm sure you are going to ask...where is the ball of yarn that you wound with the new swift? Well, I didn't have the time to wind the ball, but I will and when I do I'll be sure and show you. Now the next time he's bored I'll have to see if he has enough Lego parts to make one of these. Then I'll really be all set!

No finished knitting to show you, but hopefully soon I'll be back with something new :)

For all those of you who celebrate Easter....sure hope you have a happy one :)

28 comments:

  1. that is the coolest thing..how creative & useful! and the lego thing.. man oh man, we have ZILLIONS of those!.. happy ball winding.. then knitting ;) happy Easter too!

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  2. OMG! What an awesome smart idea! Man, I wish my kids still had some of those. I need to go thrift store shopping and find some. :P
    Hugs!

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  3. Glad it was of some use, and what a clever son you have! Happy Easter!

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  4. how cool! and good job getting him to make it for you. : )

    happy easter to you, too!

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  5. Happy EAster!!

    That is very cool - what a great idea!
    I desperately need a swift - wonder if we could make somthing like that from legos.........hmmmmmmmm.........

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  6. That is so cool! Happy Easter!

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  7. Very clever - can't wait to hear how it works!

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  8. very creative and a GREAT idea!

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  9. Your son did a great job of improvising! He must be a clever boy.

    I can't quite make out what the green pieces on the ends of the feet are. Some sort of foam blocks?

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  10. Honestly I had no clue what a swift looked like or how it possibly worked, but seeing that yarn wrapped around really helped. I don't feel like such a fool now. LOL

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  11. Thank you so much for posting your new swift! It's a brilliant idea!
    Kudos to all who had a part in making it. I so need one..will have to speak to Goodman about it; surely he will see some t-toys at the flea market.
    Thanks, again!

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  12. What a fantastic swift. My son hated being a human swift too. I found a lamp shade loosened up worked well when no kids were around. But I love the tinker toy swift.

    Happy Easter.

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  13. You're so smart, Deb. I need to be more like you:)

    Ang

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  14. That's a really huge hank of yarn, by the way...what is it?
    Ang

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  15. Oh, I've heard of this idea! Looks great! Can't wait to see the first ball you wind with it.

    Happy Easter! :)

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  16. That is so cool with tinkertoys! People without access to tinkertoys might be interested in this swift using a sock dryer available from the dollar store.http://homefree.blogs.com/archive/2008/03/diy-yarn-swift.html

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  17. lol oh that is awesome. How completely clever. I am a sucker for JoAnn.com and 50% off coupons so I have one of the large umbrella swifts already but that is SUCH a clever alternative!

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  18. I am very impressed! It certainly looks like it holds a lot of yarn too!

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  19. What a great idea! Now if only there was something clever to do with all those toy wooden train tracks I've got stored in my attic?

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  20. What a great idea! And how nice of your son to build it for you!

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  21. that is so awesome! so much less expensie than buying one and just as functional! i am not sure mine would be able to hold that huge skein but it looks like yours is goign to hold it beautifully! kudos to your son!

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  22. The swift is very nice but gosh is that yarn beautiful.

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  23. hysterical and the prettiest swift I've ever seen!

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  24. i had seen this idea before but unfortunately, i didn't have any tinker toys on hand to try it out!! can't wait to see it in action!

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  25. WOW! That is a GREAT way to use Tinkertoys! Very clever!

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  26. That's wicked cool! You are so good at giving new life to old stuff by recycling them into some new purpose. I'll have to wait until Miss M is much older before I'll have any old toys to use for making one of these swifts.

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  27. Oh my gosh, that is amazing! Makes me want to get tinkertoys just to make one of those swifts!

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Thank you all for your comments! I really appreciate them. I usually don't follow up with an email, but if you do have a question please make sure you include a way to reach you within your comment so I may answer your question. Thanks and happy knitting :)

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