Yarn Holders, Ball Stands & Project Bags

A yarn holder keeps the working ball under control — turning as you pull instead of rolling away, so the strand feeds at an even tension and does not pick the floor up on the way back. The wooden yarn ball holders here do it with a brass spindle set into a solid base.

Single axis, bear or dual axis?

Four styles, and the choice is about how much yarn you have going at once:

  • Small single axis — one ball, and small enough to sit beside you on the arm of a sofa.
  • Large single axis — a bigger ball or a full cake, with more base to keep it steady.
  • Bear — the same job in a carved bear shape, if you would rather it looked like an object than equipment.
  • Dual axis — two spindles, so two colours feed at once without twisting round each other. This is the one for stranded and colourwork knitting.

A holder or a bowl?

A yarn stand lifts the ball onto a spindle and lets it turn, which suits a heavy strand that would otherwise drag. A bowl holds it down and feeds from the side through a curved groove, which suits a wound cake that sits still. Both stop tangles. The carved wood and bamboo bowls have their own page — see yarn bowls.

What if you knit away from home?

Neither travels especially well. For that, the project bags here hold a work in progress with the needles still in it, and the drawstring yarn storage bag keeps a ball feeding out while it stays zipped inside. A project bag for crochet works the same way for a hook. The full range is on knitting bags and yarn bags.

Any of these serves as a yarn holder for crochet as well as knitting. For tension at the finger end, see yarn tension rings; for the rest of the kit, crochet supplies.