Upgrading the swift

I've had my umbrella swift for years. Eighteen years to be exact. And though I may have craved a wooden one many times over those past 18 years, my swift was working just fine and I really couldn't justify the upgrade.

But the past 6 years have been hard on my trusty old swift. Six years of owning the shop have meant more knitting, which means more winding. It started making some funny noises a couple of years ago but it still worked. (Kind of like the garbage disposal that sounded like it was grinding wood and metal scraps... the tech said I could spring for a new one, or plug my ears each time I turned it on. I plugged my ears.)

There's another reason my swift has fallen on hard times. Any knitter with kids knows... a swift can be a real treat for children. They know it's not a toy, but if you leave it set up on the table, and you leave the room for any period of time, even mere minutes, you can be sure that when you come back into the room, that swift will be going faster than you've ever had it going before.

So, lots of use, a bit of abuse... and my swift finally kicked the bucket. So now I am able to upgrade to my new wooden one. Hopefully the kids are older and wiser now. We'll see.