Yarn Swift

Crazy swift and ball winder!!!!  Can anybody, please (pleading here), please tell me how to use this thing?  I started out with 6 skeins of Swish Tonal yarn and ended up with 6 rather misshapen and squishy cakes of yarn.  

Are there directions anywhere on the web for using a swift?  Any suggestions?  Tips, tutorials.  Pitfalls to avoid? 

Six Things I learned:

1. Get a helper.  Or grow a second pair of hands.
2. Flatten the skein before placing it on the swift, and make sure it's not twisted.
3. Don't stop winding in the middle or everything will go south.
4. Tighten the swift screw super-tight, or everything will go south in a tangled mess.  Literally.
5. Keep an even tension.  I didn't, and that makes for smooshy cakes of yarn. Or uptight cakes. Take your choice.
6. Wind off the skein so that the yarn end is coming clock-wise.  Wait, maybe it's supposed to be coming off counter-clockwise?  I think I tried it both ways, and found neither to be better.

Lastly, and in the case of my skein of lace-weight gray yarn pictured below, if the skein is too big in diameter to fit on the swift then use two chair backs to keep the yarn taunt.  Then hold the yarn winder in your hand and walk around the chairs, winding as you walk, until you get so dizzy that you fall over.  Then wait awhile and do it again.  Eventually, maybe hours and hours later, your yarn will be wound in a not so pretty yarn-cake like mine. 

Yes.  Seriously.  I need some help from knitters with more experience than I.

Ruth

Don't you agree it looks like some sort of Torture Contraption?