A blog title of “loose screw hole” on QueerJoe’s knitting blog, might sound like click-bait (okay, it was). But I really do have an issue here!

Fixing a Loose Screw Hole – Swift Repair

First let me start by saying that I really love my wooden umbrella yarn swift. It’s inexpensive, looks nice and works great. I use it a lot. I use it for my own yarn-balling needs, but I also bring it to the Men’s Knitting Retreats so that there is a communal swift and ball-winder for the guys to use whilst at the retreat.

Over the years, the threads of the screw and hole in the adjustable ring have worn down on my oldest wooden swift. They wore down so much, that the ring could no longer support the weight of the umbrella swift with a hank of yarn on it. My first thought was to purchase one of those reverse umbrella swifts so there wouldn’t be as much pressure on the holding ring.

I thought I’d try a few easy fixes first.

A couple attempts at trying to thicken the diameter of the thumb-screw with various tapes didn’t work very well.

So I decided to do some wood surgery. I purchased some flanged threaded inserts for soft wood (took me a while to find what these thing-a-ma-bobs were called) and red-knob thumb screws that fit into the new inserts.

Those little metal inserts fit perfectly into the worn-out hole in the wooden adjusting ring. They screw in using a hex key or Allen wrench. And the tightening screws hold the umbrella swift up perfectly well.

There is only one issue with this fix that I’ve found so far. The metal tightening screw bites into the main shaft and creates small dents in the wood. Eventually, that may cause issues of stability with the main shaft, but for now it’s working great.

For the 25″ wooden yarn swift, just make sure you purchase:

• Hex Flanged Threaded Inserts for Soft Wood – Size: 1/4″-20 x 10mm (1/4″ is the diameter of the inner opening and 20 is the threads-per-inch and 10mm is the length I think)
• 1/4″-20 Thumb Screw Bolts Round Hex Head Clamping Knob – Length: 1″

Current Knitting

I’ve started the front of the All-Over Patterned Pullover.

The ribbing and beginning of the first motif are complete.

I’ve also fully finished the first helical-striped sock and started the second one.

I’ve sewn down the cuff-hem at the top of the first and made it past the toe to the beginning of the foot of the second sock of the pair.