What Makes Our LARGE YARN BOWLS So Special?

"...the only yarn bowl you’ll ever need!"

​THE SIZE & SHAPE
Our best-selling Large Yarn Bowls are taller and narrower than competing yarn bowls. The tall sides are designed to loosely hug a ball of yarn to prevent it from popping out when the yarn is tugged quickly. Measuring 6.5”-8” (diameter) x 5-6” deep; a variety of shapes is determined by the characteristics of each wood specimen as the yarn bowls are turned on the lathe. This results in a truly unique, one-of-a-kind yarn bowl that can’t be duplicated!

ALL our large yarn bowls are designed to fit the following criteria:

THEY ALL HOLD  FULL 3.5-5 OZ SKEINS
Standard  3.5 oz – 5 oz. skeins of 4 ply medium weight yarn, rolled in a big ball will fit all our large yarn bowls with room to spare. If you’re a fan of 7.5 oz.(oversized or “super-saver”) simple roll an 8 - 9” ball (about 75% of these larger skeins) and you’ll end up with a medium size ball, too.

​​THEY MAKE YARN CAKES PORTABLE
Average size yarn cakes up to 5 oz. +/-;  like Lion Brand “Mandala”, Bernat “Pop”, “Sweet Rolls” fit perfectly, keeping the cake more intact when you get down towards the end of the cake, making these yarn cakes portable and much easier to set aside.

Pop a cake in the bowl upside down and feed the tail through the groove for smooth pulling. If you like to work with larger yarn cakes, step up to an XL (Extra Large) –you’ll find a larger selection of XL’s as the Large Bowls sell quickly. 

THEY MAKE FROGGING A BREEZE!
Need to frog several rows? Frog that yarn into your Large Yarn Bowl and it will pile or stack in a contained manner so you can set your project aside without the risk of it becoming a tangled mess. Redoing those rows will be a breeze –whenever you get to it.

MONTHS IN THE MAKING
Every yarn bowl is made to strict gallery grade standards; an incredible value considering the hours spent to elevate each piece to “collectible” status! Each Large Yarn Bowl takes 2-3 months for the wood to dry after turning and shaping the bowl on the lathe. Then, the real work starts with lathe shaping, groove cutting, and a minimum of fifteen cycles of hand sanding, buffing and finishing –an additional 2 weeks under optimum weather conditions. Sometimes finishing takes longer when the Florida heat and humidity slows down finishing. A final coat of museum wax is applied and buffed to resist fingerprints and enhance the brilliant shine.

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THE HISTORY…
We opened shop on Etsy in 2014 with large pine bowls only; made from (readily available) segmented pine.* Because the pine was kiln dried, it eliminated the lengthy (2-3 month) drying process so Bob could create and finish each bowl in 2-3 weeks. Each one represented at least 10 hours of labor and price from $60-$90, they flew out the door! These were a tremendous value for our early yarners, but after two years of 40+ hr. work weeks, my retired husband "felt like a machine" and longed to spend more time expanding on his craft with finer works. 
 
With over 600 sales and a growing five-star reputation, he was getting requests for bigger (and bigger!?) yarn bowls in pricy, hard to find hardwoods (like cherry and pecan). Challenged, but spurred on by creativity, we expanded our selection to include his highly popular XL - Jumbo sizes and I designed the “tool cup/hub sets” I now can’t live without and love to share.
 
At the same time in 2016, “large” wood yarn bowls flooded the market on Etsy. These mass-produced offerings; many from endangered wood in India and China claim to be "handcrafted” while they are actually manufactured with computerized precision, quickly hand sanded; and brought to market with a single coat of finish guaranteeing snags galore.
 
Local yarn shops, big box craft stores, and Etsy yarn and craft shops started offering these mass-produced “hand-crafted” versions at rock bottom prices. Yes, they're cheap, but remember the old adage; you get what you pay for!

I now have to push Bob to make these large yarn bowls. Nonetheless, despite my stunning collection of #JumboYarnBowls I usually have our first pine yarn bowl large at my side for my yarn on the hook. If I could have only one yarn bowl, I’d choose a large “workhorse” bowl –that’s why I say "...it’s the only yarn bowl you’ll ever need!"

​As our backlog of large pine yarn bowls has dwindled to less than ten, Bob now realizes how much we yarners value these wonderful workhorse bowls. However, when the pine ones are  gone, there will be long wait times for our new large (hardwood) yarn bowls to be listed because they take more time to make and the wood for these smaller pieces is scarce. Sadly, it's the bigger, older trees that usually fall or succumb to disease. When this happens, wasting valuable wood to make my favorite large yarn bowls that should come from smaller, younger trees just doesn’t make sense ecollogically or economically.

DEDICATION TO FUNCTIONALITY
We've had a couple requests to “drill some holes in the sides of our yarn bowls for knitting needles…”   While needle holes may add interest to some yarn bowls, holes don’t function properly in our large bowls because they’re so nice and deep.
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As form meets function in all of our yarn bowls, we hope to shed some light on how important the ease of use is, as well as the natural beauty Bob brings out in the wood. We hope you make the right choice for your needs. For more on choosing the right size yarn bowl for your work style, find details here.

Paw Proof!

NOTE: You'll find our best-selling Large Yarn Bowls in our Shop Section as well as our ETSY Shop –​Happy yarning!
 
*Update: As of this posting we have a very limited supply of Large segmented pine yarn bowls –replaced by hardwood versions. When they are gone, there will be no more! 6/16/20