All About Yarn Bobbins | Your How To Guide
Anyone who knits or crochets using different colours should know about yarn bobbins. Yarn bobbins are a handy way to keep track of all your colour changes without having a big, tangled mess.
I personally use yarn bobbins when crocheting graphs – either using the bobble stitch combo or corner to corner (C2C) technique. Yarn bobbins helped me keep all the colour changes organized. Prior to using yarn bobbins, my work was a huge mess. I spent more time untangling than actually crocheting!
For some C2C crochet basics, be sure to check out my blog post here.
I’ve crocheted a few C2C blankets – they’re lots of fun.
My Other C2C Crochet Projects
Be sure to check out these other great projects.
What are Yarn Bobbins?
Yarn bobbins are mini, or small skeins of yarn that you would use when working on something that has various colour changes. I’m not really talking about colour changes that are stripes – more like when making a graph, wherein creating a picture, you have not only several colour changes but they are all over the place as well.
What to Use as Yarn Bobbins
There are some fancy wooden spools that I have seen people use as bobbins. The easiest and cheapest hack for me was large clothespins. I was able to find packages of large clothespins at my local dollar store and they work great.
There are various sources for clothing pins – just find the largest that you can. The larger the clothespin, the more yarn you can wind on them.
Winding the Bobbins
I wind my yarn bobbins backwards. What that means, is that I hold the clamp part of the clothespins and wind the part that you would squeeze to open it up. The reason why I do this is that if you wind your yarn on the part that opens, you won’t be able to open it up. By holding that as I wind, I’m sure not to wind in that area.
Be careful of filling up your yarn bobbins too full. I found that with the clothespins, the yarn would fall off and become a tangled mess which in turn defeats the whole purpose. I know it may not seem like you can’t really load up on a lot of yarn (especially if it’s the main colour, like the background colour), but trust me – if it falls off, you’ll spend more time untangling it than actually working on your project.
Since the yarn bobbins don’t hold too much, you will need to replenish them as needed. Attaching the same colour is easy using the ultimate yarn join. To learn how to do the ultimate yarn join, check out my YouTube video here.
The latest on Youtube:
How Many Yarn Bobbins Will You Need?
The number of yarn bobbins that you need is dependent upon the number of colour changes that you will be doing. Keep in mind that this is not the same as the number of colours that you will be needing for a project because you may need.
In order to figure out the number of yarn bobbins that you will need, look at the line of the project that has the most colour changes.
Now in the shop
Yarn Project Workbook
The Yarn Project Workbook will help you organize, plan and celebrate, your supplies and projects.
Get control of that yarn stash, plan your next project and reflect on your latest project.
How to Use the Bobbins
Quite often at the beginning of I project in which I know that I will be using yarn bobbins, I prepare the yarn bobbins in advance. This is not necessary – I just like to have things organized at the beginning so that when I start crocheting, I can do so without interruption.
Keep the bobbins clipped to your work until you are ready to use them. When you need that particular colour, just unclip and use.
I keep everything clipped until I am using it. When I take a break or put the project away, I make sure all the yarn bobbins are clipped to my project. When I come back to it, the yarn bobbins are all there and ready to go – no big tangled mess!
Since the yarn bobbins don’t hold too much, you will need to replenish as needed. Attaching the same colour is easy using the ultimate yarn join.
Prefer me to talk you through yarn bobbins? Check out my video where I go over each of these points.
The latest on Youtube:
Want to remember all about yarn bobbins? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.
Do you have a site to do a graph blanket starting at the beginning using bobbins
I am a beginner?
Thank you
Hello. I have a video on C2C basics, but not one from the very beginning.I will definitely consider that for the future.
How do you change colors in the middle of a project
Asking about how many inches is needed for this fabulous knot ?
Hello! I don’t join colours using the magic knot in the middle of a project. I find it challenging to gauge how much is needed.
How do you store and manage your bobbins once they are filled – I have several that are all wrapped, but they are super awkward and don’t stand or lay down well.
Hello! When the bobbins are filled and I am not using, I put them in a basket until I need them. If I am using them as I crochet, I clip them, on to my work – sometimes on the sides so that they are out of the way. Therefore there will be a bit of yarn hanging to reach over. Hope that makes sense.
Hi. I use the same clothes pins for my bobbins too. But, instead of hand winding the bobbins I use my yarn winder to make a ball the size I want and then I slide the ball from the winder spindle onto the clothes pin. Just hold the top of the clothes pin against the front of the spindle and it slides right on, then push the ball down until it is below the opening. They don’t fall off and the pins open easily.
Great idea! Thanks for the tip.
I use these clips for bobbins, too! I was becoming frustrated with not being able to fit enough yarn on them until I had an epiphany one day: I now will hand wind until quite full, then wrap the yarn between one of the body “handles” and through the actual clip head twice. I find that this helps me add more yarn, keep it in place, AND – most importantly for me – prevent it from completely unwinding if I drop the bobbin!
Happy crocheting!
Great tip! Thank you!
Where do you find the clips at I need to purchase some
Hello! I got these ones from the dollar store.