Utterly brilliant

I do not own a swift or ball winder. Most of the time, I don't really mind winding yarn by hand--there's a meditative quality to it that's missing from most day-to-day activities. Every once in a while, though, creating a tangle or working with laceweight (which goes on forever) makes me wonder if a swift and winder would be good investments. Then I remember that a set of this would set me back about $100--and that's just for the plain vanilla versions, not for something made of exotic wood or handmade by peasant artisans in the French Alps or anything like that.

I just heard about this idea: using Tinker Toys to make a swift. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I say (even without pirates). I think I need to get myself some Tinker Toys...