I did it! I solved the case of my crooked yarn cakes! I imagine others may have this same issue happen with their ball winders so thought I would put a post together on how to fix your yarn ball winder. You can see from the before and after images below that something was definitely off!
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 work horse 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 right I called Knit Picks and they were very good about getting a new ball winder out in the mail to me. 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. Here is how to fix your yarn ball winder.
How to Fix Your Yarn Ball Winder
First you will need to twist off cone shaped bobbin from the main base of the winder.
Next, using a phillips head screwdriver, remove the screw from the plate underneath where the bobbin was removed and then remove the plate and set 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 be meshed together so that the teeth fit together.
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, replace the bobbin, and try it out. 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 how I keep them wound neatly and keep them from turning into a tangled mess while in use or in storage!
I was ready to toss it and buy another….but not from Knit Picks for fear of this happening again. Your fix, saved me money and time!!!! It works perfectly.
However, I couldn’t force the gears to mesh but noticed another screw on the bottom of the winder. I unscrewed it and was able to lift the gear off and then place it back into the correct position.
Thank you for this! I think Michael’s sent me all their crap skeins because I also had a yarn winder in my order, but I needed to open it up and fix the gears before I could wind them!
Thank you for the great tip on fixing he ball winder! It worked great.
Thank you! This was exactly what I needed!
Mine never worked right off the bat and this was such an easy fix. Thank you!!
Thank you so much for posting this information! I have the exact same winder and I spent over an hour trying to figure out why it had suddenly stopped working. Such a simple fix. Thank you for saving my sanity! LOL
A very big thank you, this was exactly what I was expecting and yes it absolutely fixed it!!!🫶🙌
This was so helpful! Thank you!
I have a problem with the yarn jumping off the ball and winding around the bobbin. It winds well for a half inch or so ball, maybe an inch, then I can feel it slip. It like misses and speeds up as I wind and it is winding around the bobbin. I am thinking it is me. As usually at a retreat I do not have this prolem.i get so frustrated that I put yarn on my knees and wind by hand. Ugh!!!!!!!!
Thank you thank you!! I thought my yarn is too slippery or I have broken my winder.
OMG this is amazing. What a difference. Thank you soooo much
Thank you so much!!! I thought I was going crazy!
You’re awesome! Thanks so much for posting this VERY HELPFUL article!!
You are absolutely a lifesaver! Thank you!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I literally *just* got my Knit Picks winder in the mail last night and already overused it and caused this exact problem. I was so worried I’d have to buy a new one!
Thank you so much! This worked for me after I used chunky yarn my yarn winder messed up & I wasn’t sure what it was. This was super helpful & easy! Thank you again!
Oh you just saved my sanity. I have this exact same wool winder and on my third skein it decided to go wonky. It is working perfectly now Thank you so much! Now all I have to do is untangle this skein. Haha
Thank you SO MUCH for this! Found it today, 4 years later but still a lifesaver!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!
Me and my flying saucer balls thank you for this fix.
Wow! Was skeptical but It actually works .
Here I thought the issue was with the yarn, until I tried a standard worsted weight. You are a genius!!! Please add my name to the long list of fiber artists grateful to you for your post! Now I can cake up my yarn again without a 4 hour mess of entangled yarn.
Thank you Thank you Thank you many times over!!!
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!!!!
Thank you so much I couldn’t figure out how a ball winder could not do a very simple job. Yours was the first thing I tried and it worked brilliantly!
This TOTALLY helped! Thank you SO much for posting this. Now I can get back to knitting without wrestling with out of control messy knots of yarn. Cheers!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I was getting so frustrated. My ball winder worked and then it didn’t.
This post just saved me much continued frustration thinking i could no longer wind a decent cake of yarn. Thank you, thank you thank you!
Thank you so so much for posting this. After frustration and searching for an answer, I came upon your post. Solved the problem in no time flat. Now i have perfect cakes of yarn again.
Thank you so very much for sharing this information! I have about 7 ball winders that I am about to fix! I just couldn’t throw them away even though they didn’t work! Now I can fix them! You are so very AMAZING! AGAIN THANK YOU!!!
Your solution took less time to complete than it took to untangle the messed up flying saucer yarn barf made with the broken yarn winder. If it hadn’t been such expensive yarn I would have thrown it all in the trash. You are a genius!
Thank you so much! I have this same yarn winder. Tonight I got yarn caught and when I pulled it out, the winder started making very lose cakes. I took it apart, but didn’t know what I was looking to fix. After following this, it is like the day I got it!
Thank you so much! A yarn winder was one of the first things my husband got for me (as well as free reign in the yarn aisle of our local craft shop) after we lost our home in a wildfire. I think he was just as upset at it being broken as I was! Thanks to your easy to follow instructions, I can get back to reorganizing my yarn piles 😁
This completely fixed the problems I was having. Thank you for posting this fix!
Thank you so much!! I was ready to throw out my brand new Knitpicks winder and go back to my old workhorse. I guess newer isn’t always better. Anyway, you identified the exact problem and I was able to fix. With the number of replies here, it looks like Knitpicks should be doing something about their manufacturing issue.
YES! Thanks for the excellent post and pictures – I took the winder apart and the gears were the issue!! I fixed the winder (knit picks) for my knitter wife of 15 years!! Needless to say when the winder was “broken” it was as if the world was ending and everything was my fault 🙂 and now hopefully I have a trick up my sleeve for the future. Thanks again!
Thank you. My husband opened it and we had an aha moment. It works great. You saved me from tossing it in recycling.
Bless you for this! I was ready to throw it out and it’s working beautifully now.
YES! You are amazing! your instructions were easy to follow- thank you so much! But also a shout out to KnitPicks who was more than happy to replace this before I fixed it!
You’re my hero, thanks!
Thank you sooo much! I have a different brand, but the same problem from the very beginning! Your solution worked. Woohoo! 🙂
I could hug you…I was so worried my winder was broken for good, but I found your post and it’s fixed now! Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Thank you! Your article was so helpful. Much appreciated!
Fixed it with your detailed post. I had to undo another screw as well to reposition the large wheel. Thank you. I was thinking the small gauge of the yarn I was winding had caused the problem.
Wow great job! You’re every clever to figure this out. I thought it was my fault! Had the same problem with my knit picks winder. Thank you so much for sharing! I was able to fix mine through your help.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! You saved my Christmas projects!
Oh my gosh- I thought I was doing something wrong because my ball winder (knit Picks) kept winding flying saucers, not cakes! I opened it up and the large gear was not connecting with the small one at all! the edge of the large gear was riding on the top surface of the small one! I wasn’t able to get it to line up AND reattach ( I also removed the phillps head screw on the bottom of the winder platform, so I called and a new one is on the way!
OH. MY. GAWWWW. This saved my neck. Thank you thank you thank you! We seriously had this device for 2 whole days before it broke. My 12 year old made just 5 cakes before it stopped working… AND she was super gentle with it!!! What the heck??? You rock, and also you’re my hero 🙂
This hack saved me Money and a 60 mile trip to the store. It was a bit hard to do but with a screw driver I pryed It up and then pushed the top gear down and it worked! 🙂
Have a great day ❄️👍😁
Thanks so much for this solution. I was getting really frustrated and was ready to cry. Didn’t want to go through the “call the company” stuff, as my winder was gifted to me for Christmas year before last. I found your solution and checked it out in mine and now it’s all better. <3
Thank you thank you!!! I was getting ready to throw away the same yarn wonder and you helped me save it!!!
It worked. Congrats to you for having the courage to take the thing apart. I was close to doing something like that and was so glad to find your post. Of course, that was after winding a ball without the criss-crossing of yarn, which turned out to be quite a mess that was, even though it looked like a ball, didn’t feed from the center but tangled on itself.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I couldn’t figure out why my ball winder was suddenly not making nicely wound cakes! I had a bit of trouble trying to get the big gear to snap into place but, in the end, I prevailed. Just one more example of why I love your blog so much!
Thank you! My Japanese yarn winder never worked quite right. I was on the verge of giving it away because the yarn cakes always came out weird and lopsided. I took it apart, and sure enough, the gears weren’t meshing. Now that it’s fixed, I finally wound my first-ever perfect yarn cake yesterday.
Thank you so much for this article as my shop yarn winder was not working right and my customers need their yarn in cakes. So I look up how to fix a knit pick winder and I found this. I fixed it and we are back in business winding cakes of yarn again!
Just wanted to drop by and say this saved my winder! I was about to toss it out the window in frustration with my lopsided tangly cakes. I lost so much yarn with my broken winder. 🙁
Oh my gosh, my kitten knocked over my ball winder and it was all screwy! This worked perfectly!!!! Thanks so much!
OMG, I’m so thankful I found this! I got it 3 days ago and was so not wanting to send it back. Thank you for posting this!
Wife was about to throw some yarn out! With your help, I was able to fix it, thanks!!
Thank you so much. I hooked up my winder this morning and was disgusted with the balls I was getting. Couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Googled troubleshooting and found your page. Your explanation was very simple and now I have beautiful balls. Thank you again
I have an older version, with the handle on it (I lost/never used the table mount.) I figure I’ve had it around 8 years? Lately it wasn’t wrapping the first few twists correctly, so I opened it up and saw the teeth didn’t meet all the way anymore. (The larger gear kept falling below the smaller one, and the teeth didn’t meet tightly.)
To fix it, I wrapped a small rubber band below the gear to space/lift the gear to the right level for the teeth to fit. I have no receipt or record from when I originally purchased it from kp, so I just keep fixing it instead of replacing it. $20 over 8 years is pretty good value in my opinion. Im pretty sure i can keep it going longer provided the plastic stays good.
Thank you! Mine was so messed up I had to take the screw off the bottom as well and completely reposition it. From all the comments, it seems to be a design flaw!
Bless you! I was about to order a new one and was so upset, then I found this! It only took a few minutes to fix and it’s working like normal again. I hope you’re on Ravelry with this info, I’m sure there are lots of people who would benefit!
Thank you sooooooo much!!!!! I was so sad last night when I realized my ball winder was being weird. I tried taking it apart and had no idea what I was looking at so when I found your site I was so thankful. I fixed it in just a few minutes thanks to you. I was so afraid I was going to have to deal with trying to see if I could get a replacement. Thank you again!!
Thank you so much for writing this. I was heartbroken when my knit pick yarn winder was acting up. I was about to jump the gun and buy an expensive yarn winder which I do not really want to do. You save me from my woes. I am glad I found your article. I am back to getting perfect cake yarns. Again, a million thanks.
Thank you so much for this! I thought I was gonna cry when I found out my yarn winder was dead! Worked perfectly! 🙂
Thank you so much for this information. I have a Knit Picks winder also and one of the screws came out and when I reassembled it my balls were winding lopsided. Your tips allowed me to reassemble it properly.
I’m so glad you found it helpful!!
thank you! i was about to order a new one!
Yes! My KnitPicks ball winder did the same thing. I have a sneaking suspicion that this has happened to a lot of people. Wasn’t as easy for me to get the gears to mesh but finally got it done. Next time, I get a good winder.
Do you also have a fix for a yarn winder whose handle is turning but not engaging at all with the gear?
Please and thank you.
Thank you, you absolute BLESSING! I couldn’t figure out why my yarn balls were all wonky, but thanks to this, I fixed it and now they’re perfect! Thank you!
Great information! I have a yarn winder, and I’ll know how to fix it when I encounter this problem.
Thanks,
Donna
I don’t have a yarn winder, but if you had to fix a brand new yarn windser, wouldn’t this be a manufacturing defect? I’m glad it’s an easy fix to do at home, though.
Hi Diana 🙂 It could be … but mine were not brand new when this happened. I had each for a time before they started acting up. And mine get A LOT of use.
The reason why I went with their ball winder was because someone in the comments said their ball winder was an entire year old and Knit Picks still replaced it for free because it stopped working. But it’s definitely worth looking inside to see if it’s this easy of a fix first!
Yes, definitely. They took mine back no problem. But now that I see what an easy fix it was I’m glad I didn’t have to do that again.
This morning before I checked my email I got out the yarn winder I got at a yard sale and started organizing my stash. How weird that you would post this today…great minds think alike!
Thank you
Naomi
Such a simple (I love simple, don’t you?), quick fix…..and logical. Saves time & money waiting for a new ball winder to arrive in the mail. And who doesn’t like to save both, especially the money, right?
Thank you for taking the time to solve this problem for me. I appreciate it.
Bright blessings & happy week to you!!
Thank you! My knitpicks winder started dying after winding maybe 5 skeins and I was so mad! This fixed it 😊