[IndigoSpinner]

The winder has a very large center, when you remove the cake from the winder, all the tension on the yarn relaxes. I really don't think it would be possible to wind too tight with a ball winder.

Hard as it may be to believe, I have watched someone wind a cake of yarn on a ball winder that wound up almost as hard as a softball.

She put the yarn on a wooden swift, and let all the weight of the yarn and swift drag on the yarn while it was being wound. Even though there is a large center on the ball winder, she was able to get it so tight that even that couldn't compensate for it.

If it was me, I would have rewound it from the first cake to get a soft cake.

 

[rkr]

I agree w/chikkie, lostarts and suzybcool: at least 2 windings from the swift. Most hanks I get of the specialty-type (hand-dyed or expensive—$15 - 20 per hank) need at least that many windings to get a nice, soft cake.
As they come off my swift, many brands (Madelainetosh DK & Malabrigo Sport are famous for this..or is it just me?? I recently had to cut one Malabrigo Arroyo hank completely up to remove it from the swift because it was so tangled into itself, even though the company ties their threads in 3 separations in each spot.... )
But they do knot up several times inside the hank while winding off and this causes the winder to jerk and wind on very tightly. I, too, do need to set the first cake on the floor and re-wind it at least once more, hand-pulling it out of the first tightly-wound cake to loosen it. I have very soft cakes this way and don't worry about doing them all up for an entire project at once.

3 windings I'd worry about; each winding will tend to give the yarn a bit more of a twist. 3 might cause too much twist to the yarn and the subsequent garment *may* take on a bit of a bias after knitting up. I don't want to take that chance. On top of that I've got a bit of a frozen shoulder and continuously pulling a yard or 2 out of the first, hard-wound cake to loosen it up before rewinding the yarn really aggravates it. I cannot do this for a very long period of time all day long. Twice is enough for me.
Bobbie R

 

[StitchDesigner]

I don't understand why people are winding from a swift TWICE. If you are worried about the yarn being wound too tightly, simply use your left hand as an additional tensioner between the swift and the winder, then wind more slowly!!! My cakes are not hard and that is how I do it.

 

[kmcnaught]

I agree. Wind the yarn and then rewind. I do it from a swift.

 

[kmcnaught]

Rather than place the yarn cake on the floor, I use a canvas shopping bag and do not wind too rapidly.