Presto! Its a Ball.

While at my mom's for Christmas I asked her about these whacky contraptions on the desk.

Turns out they are quite obviously for winding skeins into balls! And low and behold, I had skeins with me.

Umbrella Swift - open your skein and slip it over the umbrella.

Attached the end of the skein to the Winder and giv'er! (turn the handle, that is)

Yarn BEFORE

Yarn AFTER

It went so fast I was actually sad when it was over.

It is not done in "polite society."

I spat in my hand.
I did.
My mom told me to do it.
I was working on the baby blanket (that never ends!) while visiting her and she helped me tuck in the loose ends where I started new skeins. And then she mentioned that she'd heard of a trick with wool where you spit in your palm and rub the two pieces together causing them to 'felt' together so that no ends stick out and you can then just knit the new yarn in, no knots.
So tonight I tried it.
And, well, it worked! No pokey ends. But it can't be synthetic, only real wool.
However, next time I do it, I'll brush my teeth first. Nothing like your bad breath mushed into your palm.