I researched the best yarn bowl to find the perfect option for knitting, crocheting and everyday use. After reading expert reviews from trusted sources like the New York Times, Wirecutter and The Spruce Crafts, two models consistently stand out as top recommendations:
However, I am having trouble deciding which one would better suit my needs. I care about durability, smooth yarn feeding, ease of cleaning, and aesthetics. A heavier base to prevent tipping would be a bonus too. Has anyone tried either of these? Which one would you recommend? Any advice or personal experiences would be really appreciated.
Personally I wouldn’t buy either.
They are very pretty and if you enjoy having one for how it looks in your house then i suggest you choose based on which you prefer the look of.
For functionality though, I’d say neither is as useful as the tub/bin which @GrumpyGramma helpfully posted a picture of.
I do have a yarn bowl, I don’t know the make as it was a gift, I wouldn’t have bought one for myself. Mine looks just like those you’ve asked about and it mostly lives, unused, taking up space, in my yarn drawer, I can’t throw it out because it was a gift!
Most of the yarn I buy comes in this shape ball which don’t fit in the bowl unless squished in, if they are squished in they can’t properlly unravel to allow the yarn to flow freely. Also balls like this don’t need a bowl, they unravel to knit from without spinning off across the room, they just stay on the sofa by my side, well-behaved.
The only time I need something to put my yarn in is if i have unravelled a ball of yarn to split into 2 or more balls, or if i rewind a frogged project. When I rewind the yarn I do it by hand and the result is a very round ball, these do spin off across the room and they like to roll off the sofa too, having a tub or container is useful for those. On those occasions i do get the yarn bowl out but only because i already have it, honestly the tub GG posted is easier, smoother, more useful. I really dislike the spiral cut in the bowl which is supposed to guide the yarn out in a nice way, it doesn’t, it tends to grab the yarn and prevent smooth rolling of the ball, after getting repeatedly frustrated I turn the bowl so the yarn cannot get caught in the spiral, for this reason a regular cereal bowl or salad bowl, plant pot, or just a recycled cardboard box, plastic food tub, or any smooth container would be easier and more useful.
I have 3 yarn bowls that I never use. I prefer to put my yarn on a spindle, like the one shown with the Baffect yarn bowl.
This works really well with cakes, and also with some other common yarn put-ups. Not always great with the “donut” or “flying saucer” shape, which I often just put into a zip-lock and drop into my knitting bag. But if you got the Baffect one, you’d have both, and can decide for yourself!
I often use those jumbo acrylic yarns I find at Walmart. I don’t know if you have similar where you are. I had to drink a lot of coffee to get that yarn bowl! A real hardship. I also have rectangular tubs I saved from buying oxyclean for laundry that are great for smaller units. If one gets damaged somehow a replacement is easy to come by. One thing I can’t stand is having my yarn trapped going through a hole. Talk about inconvenient when I frog. At least the cut in the bowls asked about doesn’t lock the yarn in. Fortunately nobody has thought I need a fancy yarn bowl since there’s nowhere I could display it.
I bought my mum a custom ceramic yarn bowl years ago, it never got used and I don’t even know where it is right now. I bought myself one made of buffalo horn at a knitting and stitching show, and sadly, dropped and broke it some time later so it doesn’t function as a proper yarn bowl any more (I lost the broken off piece otherwise I’d have glued it back on).
These days I would opt for a tub like GrumpyGramma’s if I needed to. But, of the ones you posted I’d probably opt for Baffect.
I have a very pretty yarn bowl with a glorious lid that fits so snug you can hardly tell it’s 2 pieces. I’ve found it’s just not practical given the size of skeins/balls I’m usually working with. It isn’t super user friendly for me either since I usually take my knit projects with me if I have any suspicion I’ll have free time during my day. It does securely hold all my knitting do-dads. I use a folding project basket I got on Marketplace for $2.00 and it’s perfect - holds my yarn and my project and I can fold it up to keep it all secure.
I also have a folding basket (i think mine was 2 for £1 about 25 years ago, its a pop up basket), mostly it is just folded away unusued but when i have a project with lots of yarns at once it gets lots of use and is just perfect, i can leave a jumble of “yarn spaghetti” in there and my full project and needles. Mine is a very ugly item but is so useful just as you said. I can imagine it would be perfect if i ever went places wih a sweater on the go.
I was once working on a project with multiple small balls of color from mini skeins. I found a nice collapsible holder with 6 sections. It was a bit pricey, but came with 6 bottles of beer, so it was a good deal overall!
I like to pull from the inside of the skein so the outside of it is the “bowl” I sometimes secure the outside strand with two half hitch knots around a few more strands, or I just tuck it under the paper ring. Then as the skein shrinks I like to tighten the paper ring, securing it with paper clips. That being said right now I’m using a rolled down pharmacy paper bag to contain my tools and materials. It’s just large enough for my 3 skeins when they’re full, I have them standing up with the centers I pull from presented easily, then I tuck small tools in there too
I also have rectangular tubs I saved from buying oxyclean for laundry that are great for smaller units. If one gets damaged somehow a replacement is easy to come by. One thing I can’t stand is having my yarn trapped going through a hole. Talk about inconvenient when I frog. At least the cut in the bowls asked about doesn’t lock the yarn in. Fortunately nobody has thought I need a fancy yarn bowl since there’s nowhere I could display it.
I sometimes secure the outside strand with two half hitch knots around a few more strands, or I just tuck it under the paper ring. Then as the skein shrinks I like to tighten the paper ring, securing it with paper clips. That being said right now I’m using a rolled down pharmacy paper bag to contain my tools and materials. It’s just large enough for my 3 skeins when they’re full, I have them standing up with the centers I pull from presented easily, then I tuck small tools in there too 