Bond Machine Knitting - Line Stripper
Line Stripper picture
Subject: [BOND] line stripper?
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 10:03:59 -0400
From: Marcia Johnston
Ann, first of all, welcome back! In case no one has responded to your
question about the line stripper, here's it's history.
We all know that there should be no tension on the yarn as it goes
through the carriage. We've all done the pulling-several-yards-out-
of-the-skein/ball-before-each-row bit. Then we progressed to
unwinding-the-entire-skein-into-some-sort-of-a-container-before-starting-to-
knit bit (discovering that with plastic containers a fabric softener
sheet or a quick spray of Static Guard on the sides will cut down on the
static electricity). For the next big advancement we have to give credit to
Donna in KY's brother who, when he saw her unwinding by hand, suggested
she try his fishing line stripper to speed up the unwinding. As far as I'm
concerned, he deserves a Nobel prize!
Needles to say, this discovery caused a whole bunch of us to run to our
nearest sporting goods stores or Wal Marts, probably buying out the
entire stock of fishing line strippers in the country! (By the way, a fishing
line stripper looks a little like a large penlight flashlight, but instead of
a bulb and lens it has a pink emeryboard-like wheel sticking out of the
end. When you remove the top cover, you will see it sits on top of a rubber
wheel which spins on a spindle when you press the on/off button. There is a
second rubber wheel which touches the first, and the fishing line--or in
our case, the yarn--passes between the two rubber wheels. One brand name is
Berkely.)
Some of us had beginner's luck and were successful in making the little
thing work on the first try. Others (and I include myself in this
group) had more trouble. Various suggestions were offered: pull the rubber
wheel with hook grinder on top off the spindle and insert a cat's hair in the
hole before replacing it on the spindle (this was to prevent the wheel from
slipping as it spun); spray it with the silicon spray; make sure the
batteries are fresh; put a drop of super glue in the spindle before
putting the wheel back on. There were other suggestions which I have forgotten.
These all worked for some but not for me. I tried everything except the
glue (and I was about to do that), when I tried one more thing which had
been suggested: make sure the batteries were in right. I just KNEW
they were in right because the wheels spun when the button was pressed so I
ignored this suggestion. However, if the batteries are inserted
BACKWARDS (i.e., with the positive end--the end with the protrusion--going into
the stripper FIRST) the wheels spin the wrong way and the yarn will just not
go through! Once the batteries are properly inserted, the yarn will
literally fly through the air!
As to whether you should go out and get your own, I'd say "By all
means!" It's a big time saver and leaves you more time to do the actual
knitting! If you have trouble finding one, put out an S.O.S. on the list and
someone will offer to pick one up for you. That's what I did.
Marcia (a.k.a., LLS or the Little Line Stripper)
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Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 11:10:18 -0500
From: Jody Tapley
Subject: Re: [BOND] winder or stripper
Linda M. Cole wrote:
> I've been reading so much about the line stripper. I have a couple of
> ball winders that I've been using for years. What is the advantage of a
> line stripper over the ball winder (sometimes called wool winders)?
When you're knitting with the Bond, you need to have the yarn flow with
absolutely no tension on it. Because of that, many of us will unwind the
yarn into a container and knit from there. The line stripper makes
unwinding the yarn very fast and fun too. :-) I don't have a ball winder so
I can't give you a comparison there, but I do know I love my little "yarn
squirter"!
Jody in Granbury, Texas
jodylt@itexas.net
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Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 11:55:28 -0500
From: Catherine Goodwin
Subject: [BOND] ballwinder vs stripper
Oh, I used to love those "compare and contrast" test questions, so
here goes (totally impartial of course)
* the flow of yarn can be much smoother from a pile of yarn off a
line stripper, especially those hairy yarns that don't want to come
out of a center pull ball due to clinging, however, with skill, one
can wind a loose flowing center pull ball with a ball winder.
*some yarns don't work that well through a yarn stripper, though I
have never met a yarn that didn't wind on to a ball winder (even in
my early days of handspinning when some of my yarns had unrecognizable
portions of fibers globbed up-"nubby" would be an understatement!)
*yarn strippers are battery, ball winders you have to crank (which can
get tiring if you don't have a slave,oops, I mean unwilling teenager
around to crank for you)
*ball winders can convert yarns that were bought in hanks or skeins,
or yarns you skein off to dye, into nice center pull balls,yarn
strippers cannot.
*yarn strippers have a cool novelty about them, you can be amazingly
entertained by them shooting yarn, ball winders are boring but have
their own sort of geometric beauty.
*ball winders preserve the yarn without tangling if you change your
mind and do another project first, once you've "stripped" a pile of
yarn, it is in perile if you do not put it under lock and key if
others (cats, children or spouses) share your abode, also, if you
unstrip more than you need, or want to trade, what do you do with the
spaghetti?
* line strippers are cheaper, but if you have both, you can fix
previous problem
Anything else?
Catherine Goodwin
Rock Springs Farm and Fiber, TN
rocksprings@multipro.com
http://users.multipro.com/rocksprings/
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Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 11:54:00 -0500
From: "Jimmy L. Simmons"
Subject: Re: [BOND] winder or stripper
I have both the stripper and winder. Basically the stripper is used
to quickly pull the yarn from a skein and places it in a pile in a container
for tension-free knitting. No, the yarn won't tangle if it is left
undisturbed. (If you mix it up...you have BIG problems). The ball winder
is used to wind the yarn into a ball. Personally, I do both. I use the
stripper to unwind the skein on the floor, then use the ball winder to make
a ball of it. By doing it this way I catch all knots and tangles that may
be hidden in the skein and since I prefer to knit from the ball (no
mixing-up accidents) I have the best of both worlds. The stripper is many
times faster, easier and more fun than pulling the yarn from the skein by
hand.
Jimmy Simmons orion@datasync.com
Gautier, Mississippi
http://www2.datasync.com/orion/french_beret.htm
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Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 11:57:28 -0700
From: Lu Kelce
Subject: Re: [BOND] winder or stripper
Hi Linda and all:
Our very dear Lila Jones was the first one to recommend
pulling the yarn out of the skein and into a container for
easy flowing yarn and faster knitting of same. THANKS LILA
:)
Donna Mardis gave us the line stripper hint suggested by her
?brother? I think. THANKS DONNA :)
Both suggestions have been life savers for a lot of us, even
those who have ball (wool) winders.
I still wind my yarn into balls for storage purposes, but
find that fuzzy or hairy yarn knits more smoothly if it is
left unwound and used right from the tub where I "shoot" it.
I still "shoot" all yarn into the tub first, even when I
plan to wind it into balls, as it forms a looser ball that
flows easier.
I have had really good luck with my line stripper (My family
calls it my Yarn Shooter) since I have shot everything from
Luster Sheen to Lion Brand Homespun through mine.
Both the ball winder and line stripper are part of my
accessories for knitting and I'm sure we all have our
personal preferences as to which has been the most helpful
to us.
I love them both.
Lu Kelce in Riverside, Ca.
"Everything is always NEW to someone"
http://kelulu@pacbell.net
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 11:55:05 -0700
From: "Marian Gall"
Subject: [BOND] Line stripper
For those of you whose Wally world doesn't have line strippers and doesn't
know what you are talking about, The phone number for the line stripper
company is 1-800-berkley.
the web site is
http://www.berkley-fishing.com/t_tackle/access.htm
They know all about what we Bonders use their line stripper for. The company
is a bit more expensive than Wally world but at least they have them and
know what you are talking about.
Marian Gall from the Arizona mountains
gall@primenet.com
Author : Steph Thornton.
Last modified on : 22nd October 1998.
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