“The SkeinMinder has a great ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ story.” -Indie Untangled
“I’ll bet a lot of small dyers will be like, ‘Yes. I want that.'” -2 Knit Lit Chicks
“…promises to make every hand-dyer’s life a lot easier.” -Knitter’s Review
JUST PUSH THE BIG RED BUTTON AND RELAX.
The SkeinMinder starts your winder, keeps track of the rotation count, and automatically stops your winder when it gets to the number you set. It will even pause your winder if it detects a yarn jam! Let the SkeinMinder mind your winder, so you’re free to mind your business.
“The SkeinMinder allows me to do other things while it does the work, and it stops my winder when it’s finished! Carrie has created a new device that has streamlined my prep and finishing processes in a way that is invaluable. Now that I have this, I can’t imagine doing what I do without it.”
– Amy Lee Serradell, Canon Hand Dyes
“We’re loving our SkeinMinder. We need one for each of our winders.”
– Wendee Shulsen, Hazel Knits
USE THE SKEINMINDER TO:
Watch short clips of the SkeinMinder on YouTube!
“We love the SkeinMinder. It’s a dream come true for my workers and production has picked up by 50%. We really want to purchase another one as soon as possible.”
– Darryl Carlson, Dream in Color Yarn
“One of the best features, though, is how the SkeinMinder will shut off the motor (without losing the count) when the yarn tangles or snags. No longer do I have to race back to the winder so that the motor won’t be grinding away. It’s the most amazing invention ever; it’s worth every penny of its cost and more.”
– Krista McCurdy, Pigeonroof Studios
—
Indie yarn dyers are pretty lucky to have a choice of 4 or 5 different motorized table-top winders. But they’re also made by small indie businesses, and are pretty simple in design. We built the SkeinMinder to automate them, and make these tools even more powerful.
LIFE WITHOUT A SKEINMINDER:
If you’re a dyer, you’re probably familiar with this. You set up your skeins, you turn your winder on, and then you try very hard to not zone out for 2-3 minutes. You’d like to be organizing your day, or putting tags on yarn, or prepping more skeins. Instead, you’re standing there, watching a rotation counter. You also keep forgetting to go to the bathroom in between batches, and that’s becoming an issue. Just a little more……..you pick up your phone and glance at Instagram and someone posted this amazing video of block-printing in India and you’re fascinated by it and have to watch it a few times, and – DOH! You’re 40 turns over your count.
Now you have to manually unwind 40 turns off your winder. And you have to somehow keep the unwound yarn in semi-neat piles or else it will turn into the Tangle Monster of Doom. Five minutes later, you’re almost done. You tie the skeins off, set up the new ones, turn your winder on again, then spend the first 30 seconds hoping beyond hope that somehow those messy piles will behave.
Finally, it’s all back on the winder and fresh yarn is coming off the cone! Except that now you’re back at staring at the rotation counter again. You leave your phone in your pocket because Instagram clearly didn’t do you any favors. Dangit, and you still have to pee.
LIFE WITH A SKEINMINDER:
You set up your skeins and push the Big Red Button. You quickly label the four skeins you just twisted, and head for the bathroom. The winder has 20 more turns to go when you get back, so you steal a quick glance at Instagram. There’s an amazing video of block-printing in India, and you get totally engulfed and watch it 5 times. Suddenly, you remember you’re supposed to be winding and look up. Oh hey! Your winder stopped because it’s done! You tie off your skeins, set up new ones, and see what other cool videos are on Instagram.
“You can pry my SkeinMinder out of my COLD. DEAD. HANDS.“
– Lisa Grossman, Tsarina of Tsocks
—
At Alpenglow Yarn, the couple of months before Stitches West is always a bit crazy. After the show in 2014, we felt like we wasted so much time babysitting our winder, and we were determined to make a device that would automate the process. Industrial mills have controllers, why can’t indie dyers?
Before Carrie became a dyer, she was an electrical engineer who spent over 10 years designing and building custom electronics. She had a few ideas and got to work.
She built first proof-of-concept model in March 2014. It was great because it was fast, cheap, and totally worked! But as you can see, it didn’t exactly have robust construction, and we couldn’t give it to someone else to use. Also, the “big red button” just wasn’t big enough.
So she made a prototype.
She actually soldered this one together and put it into an enclosure. It could be given to someone else, so Carrie immediately handed it over to her dyer friend Sincere Sheep She still has it and won’t give it back. Good news, but this still was a hand-made design, that couldn’t be produced in any real quantity. And the “big red button” still wasn’t big enough.
We decided to go out on a limb, design custom parts, use real manufacturers, and build a small run “like we meant it.” We did this simply to reduce risk. You can go into production with the best, most well-thought-out plan, but there are always little “gotchas” that pop up. We wanted to sniff out as many of those as we could before coming to you with our campaign. We wanted to be confident that we had a great product, could build it efficiently, and do it for a price that made it accessible to the indie dyer industry.
And we finally found a truly Big Red Button.
We funded the majority of the development cost ourselves, but needed a little help with the extra expense of the custom parts. We stealthily sought out a few dyers we had mentioned the project to. They demonstrated remarkable faith in our abilities, and bought their beta units when they were still in the “paper airplane” phase; when only rough designs existed. We’d like to extend our special thanks to those dyers now:
Their early support helped us build a dozen pre-production beta units.
We then expanded the beta group to include:
It truly takes the support of a community to make a project like this happen, and we are incredibly grateful and thankful for the support of our fantastic fiber peers!
—
“I love my SkeinMinder! It has virtually eliminated those underweight/overweight ‘mistake’ skeins I used to have when I used a scale to measure them – and being able to walk away from the winder, knowing it will stop on its own, is AMAZING.”
– Kim Voldseth, Western Sky Knits
“It is quick to set up, easy to use and a snap to customize. The directions in the manual are thorough and easy to understand. The SkeinMinder is also quiet, unlike our previous rotation counter, which is a huge relief. Carrie’s unique background as both an electrical engineer and yarn dyer shows in the thoughtful and comprehensive design.”– Brooke Sinnes, Sincere Sheep
“It’s so amazing to turn on the winder and walk away. I can mind the kids and not worry about the yarn! I’m even able to sneak in extra rounds of winding, like I’ll turn it on and leave to pick the kids up from school. It’s magically done when I get home and I just have to tie the skeins off!”
– Lorajean Kelley, Knitted Wit
Read more testimonials from the group!
—
We designed the SkeinMinder to work with any table-top motorized skein winder. It comes with its own rotation counter and magnet, which take about 5 minutes to install on your winder. During the course of the beta program, it has been successfully tested on the following brands:
We have not had the opportunity to test it on a Fricke or a Nancy’s Knit Knacks winder, but it should work just fine with those as well.
If you have a custom or homemade motorized winder, it’ll probably work with that too! If you’d like us to look into it further, please contact us through the link at the top of the page and send us the model number of the motor you’re using.
—
It’s SUPER easy!
Step 1: Plug the SkeinMinder into a wall socket.
Step 2: Plug your winder into the SkeinMinder.
Step 3: Attach the rotation counter and magnet to your winder with the hardware provided.
Step 4: PUSH THE BIG RED BUTTON AND WIND!
—
We know, our $65,000 goal seems like a reaaaally big number to us too! What’s not readily apparent is that this campaign itself costs a fair chunk of change, so we have to raise even more to cover that! Out of our total goal, we have to pay:
That’s 55% already gone and we haven’t even gotten to promotion (videos, postcards, postage, signs, graphic design, advertising), tools (electronics CAD software, work chairs, a bench, newer oscilloscope, circuit board carriers, electronics test equipment), taxes, a work space, and a fair wage for one full-time and one part-time employee.
At this point you might be asking – is $65k enough? We believe it is. We’ve pored over spreadsheets for weeks, and while we know no budget is ever perfect, we’re pretty confident that it’s the minimum we need to get the job done.
What happens if we raise more? Does all the sweet cash go directly to our beer and qiviut fund? Ha! We wish. If we raise more money, that means we’ve sold more stuff, and have to deliver more stuff. Logistics increase, and that does cost both time and money. We will also make a little more profit, which reduces the risk that an unexpected large expense will pop up and bite us. Well, it’ll probably still bite us, but at least we’ll be able to afford the band-aids.
What happens if we raise A LOT MORE? As difficult as that is to imagine as we sit here writing this, sure, it could happen. In that case, we’ll do a fun little reward for all of our backers. Because we’re appreciative like that. Extra funding will also be put toward more inventory, and maintaining our little manufacturing line that will keep SkeinMinder production going on a continuous basis. Our funding goal of $65k allows us to build the first batch, but we’ll need more if we want to build the next 100.
What happens if we raise OMG SO MUCH MORE? Well, we have ideas. Because the SkeinMinder isn’t the only tool indie dyers could use! More money allows us to work on the development of new tools and continue our mission:
MAKING IT EASIER FOR YOU TO MAKE BEAUTIFUL YARN.
—
Friends of Alpenglow Yarn Group on Ravelry
—
We’ve worked with independent designers and dyers all over to create a unique set of offerings for the SkeinMinder campaign. Support the SkeinMinder, support some of your favorite dyers, and support stash enhancement with the rewards below!
The rewards are organized on the sidebar by price, we thought we’d organize them here by theme to make it a little easier. We know some of you are interested in yarn, some in SkeinMinders themselves, and some in dye classes or pint glasses.
All rewards above $10 also de facto include your name in the SkeinMinder Hall of Fame.
Pledge $1:
Yay! Every litte bit helps. Thank you for being curious about the SkeinMinder, you’ll get all the campaign updates.
Pledge $10:
Your name in the virtual SkeinMinder Hall of Fame! We’ll have a page on our website thanking our backers for as long as we build SkeinMinders!
Pledge $40:
Your name or logo, and a link to your website in the virtual SkeinMinder Hall of Fame! This is a good one for businesses, it’s a little bit of perpetual advertising at a great price. You’ll have a link on our backer page for as long as we build SkeinMinders!
Isn’t SkeinMinder-Dragon-Dude awesome? He probably needs a name! He’s here to bring SkeinMinder cheer to you in the form of an organic cotton tote bag or a pair of pint glasses!
Pledge $25:
You’ll get an organic cotton SkeinMinder Backer tote bag!
These totes are sewn and printed in the USA, and made with organic cotton grown in Texas. They’re 14″ wide x 12″ high with a 3″ gusset, so they’ll hold a good-sized project! The custom artwork was specially created just for this campaign. Sport this bag at your fiber group and let everyone know you support cool tools for indie dyers!
Pledge $45
A pair of SkeinMinder Backer pint glasses!
We wanted to make a reward for those of you who may not dye yarn, may not knit, but like to drink….beverages. :) Drink them in style with these sweet SkeinMinder pint glasses with custom artwork! The glasses themselves are made and printed in the USA.
For the above 2 rewards only:
Feel free to add either or both to any reward level below. Just make your total pledge amount the sum of your level below, and the item or items you want above. Also be sure to message us with your name and email address and tell us what you want! Kickstarter only allows one reward selection and the SkeinMinder can’t actually read minds…..yet.
(more photos coming soon!)
Pledge $35
One skein of SkeinMinder Glow yarn dyed by Teresa Ruch!
We worked with Teresa Ruch to develop this glowing red color, a la the Big Red Button! This yarn is a super shiny 100% Tencel heavy laceweight, 4 oz and 520 yds. It’s enough yarn to knit a lace shawlette or scarf, or to use as warp for a woven scarf. Limited edition.
Pledge $40
One skein of SkeinMinder Spectacular yarn dyed by Knitted Wit, and a set of SkeinMinder Charm stitch markers by Spark!
We worked with Knitted Wit to develop this special colorway, in her signature speckley style. This yarn features all the SkeinMinder colors – black, red, teal, blue, and purple. The base is Victory Sock, 80% superwash merino, 20% nylon, 420 yds, fingering weight, 100% made in the USA. Limited edition.
The stitch markers are a set of 6 we developed with Spark! just for the SkeinMinder campaign. Show your support while knitting your next project! Set includes one bead marker each in black, red, teal, blue, purple, and one charm marker.
Pledge $60
Quarter-skein SkeinMinder yarn set (5 colors, ~100 yds ea) dyed by the SkeinMinder beta group, plus SkeinMinder-scope cowl knitting pattern by Kira K Designs!
This limited edition set of colors has been designed just for this campaign! You’ll receive approx. 100 yds each of fingering-weight superwash merino yarn, dyed in SkeinMinder colors by members of the beta group!
You’ll also receive the SkeinMinder-scope cowl pattern from Kira K Designs! This knitting pattern uses the yarn in the set to create a colorful SkeinMinder-themed cowl. Wear it around town and show everyone you back cool technology for indie dyers!
Pledge $65
Quarter-skein Envy Club and dye notes and recipes!
We’ve saved the next installment of our Natural Dyer’s Club just for this campaign! The theme will be greens, we’ll create 6 different ones by combining two yellows and two blues! Yellows will be weld and osage, blues will be Saxon and vat indigo. The colors will range from soft spring greens to super bright grassy greens to deeper forest greens. Can we get emerald? Let’s find out!
You’ll receive 100 yd skeins of Rangeland (fingering-weight superwash merino, made in the USA) in 6 colors, plus detailed dye notes, and the final recipe used to create each color.
Pledge $80
Quarter-skein Envy Club, a single pint glass, dye notes, and recipes!
We created this level for those of you who like to enjoy a tasty, frosty beverage while crafting. :) You’ll receive the same as above, plus a single SkeinMinder Backer pint glass.
Pledge $140
Half-skein Envy Club, a SkeinMinder Backer organic cotton tote bag, dye notes, and recipes!
You’ll receive 200 yd skeins of Rangeland (fingering-weight superwash merino, made in the USA) in the six Envy Club colors (see above), plus detailed dye notes, and the final recipe used to create each color.
Pledge $185
Full skein SkeinMinder yarn set (5 colors, 350-400 yds ea) dyed by the SkeinMinder beta group, plus the SkeinMinder Charm stitch marker set by Spark!, and a SkeinMinder Backer organic cotton tote bag!
This reward level is for super SkeinMinder supporters! It has everything you need to create a gorgeous project, all the while showing everyone YOU made the SkeinMinder happen!
Pledge $230
Full skein Envy Club (6 greens, 400 yds ea), a SkeinMinder Backer organic cotton tote bag, dye notes, recipes, and surprise local goodies!
This reward level gets you maximum dyer’s club yarn and goodies!
You’ll receive full 400 yd skeins of Rangeland (fingering-weight superwash merino, made in the USA) in the six Envy Club colors (see above), plus detailed dye notes, the final recipe used to create each color, a SkeinMinder Backer organic cotton tote bag, and some local goodies from San Luis Obispo, CA!
Pledge $150
Group natural dyeing class in San Luis Obispo, CA on April 25, 2015. Limited to 10 people.
This is your chance to take a natural dyeing class with Carrie! She doesn’t usually teach, but is making an exception for this campaign. You’ll learn how to dye with several types of raw dyestuffs, including leaves (weld), roots (madder), bugs (cochineal), and we’ll also create an indigo vat! Mordanting will be covered, but will not be performed in class due to time constraints. It will be 6 hours of intense instruction, bring an eager mind!
Students will receive instructional notes on the dye processes used, general recipes, gloves, and sample yarn to take home with them.
The cost is for the class only, transportation to and within San Luis Obispo, lodging, and meals are not included. There will be a one hour break for lunch, students may go out or bring their own.
Pledge $500
Private natural dyeing class in San Luis Obispo, CA. Date tbd by participant and Alpenglow Yarn, must be in 2015.
This is a one-on-one natural yarn dyeing class with Carrie. You can choose whatever natural dyeing subject you want – whether it’s exploration of a certain dyestuff, or how to increase and optimize your own yarn production. This is great for professionals who want an in-depth look at another professional’s process, or for enthusiasts of any level who want private instruction on a topic (or topics) of their choice.
The class will be 6 hours with a short lunch break, lunch is provided. Students will receive personal instruction, general notes on natural dye processes and recipes, gloves, and sample yarn to take home with them.
The cost is for the class only, transportation to and within San Luis Obispo and lodging are not included.
Note: At this time, SkeinMinders can only be shipped to the USA, Canada, and Mexico. If you are outside of North America and are interested in a SkeinMinder, please contact us through the link at the top of the page. We would like to gauge international interest.
Pledge $365
One SkeinMinder.
At last! It’s SkeinMinder time! We’re so excited that you’re ready to automate your winder and increase your productivity. We know you’ll love it as much as our beta group and we do!
You will receive one SkeinMinder and associated cords and rotation counter. You will also receive an organic cotton SkeinMinder Backer tote bag, and a logo and link in the SkeinMinder Hall of Fame.
Note: sales tax will be charged to California residents when the campaign is over. Kickstarter does not have a method for assessing it, and though we could estimate and build it into the budget for other rewards, we could not do that for SkeinMinders themselves.
Pledge $395
Pimp My SkeinMinder.
You’ll get to customize your SkeinMinder! Choose your own Big Button color (red, green, blue, yellow, or white), choose your own LCD text color (almost anything goes as long as it stands out from the black background), and choose your own custom message that displays on the SkeinMinder LCD on startup! (NSFW messages always welcome!) Make your SkeinMinder truly one-of-a-kind!
You will receive one pimped-out SkeinMinder and associated cords and rotation counter. You will also receive an organic cotton SkeinMinder Backer tote bag, and a logo and link in the SkeinMinder Hall of Fame.
Note: sales tax will be charged to California residents when the campaign is over. Kickstarter does not have a method for assessing it, and though we could estimate and build it into the budget for other rewards, we could not do that for SkeinMinders themselves.
Pledge $730
Two SkeinMinders!
Because sometimes 1 just isn’t enough.
You’ll receive 2 SkeinMinders with associated cords and rotation counters. You will also receive an organic cotton SkeinMinder Backer tote bag, and a logo and link in the SkeinMinder Hall of Fame.
Note: sales tax will be charged to California residents when the campaign is over. Kickstarter does not have a method for assessing it, and though we could estimate and build it into the budget for other rewards, we could not do that for SkeinMinders themselves.
Pledge $995
Three SkeinMinders!
Because sometimes 2 just aren’t enough.
You’ll receive 3 SkeinMinders with associated cords and rotation counters. You will also receive an organic cotton SkeinMinder Backer tote bag, and a logo and link in the SkeinMinder Hall of Fame.
Note: sales tax will be charged to California residents when the campaign is over. Kickstarter does not have a method for assessing it, and though we could estimate and build it into the budget for other rewards, we could not do that for SkeinMinders themselves.
Need more SkeinMinders? Contact us through the link at the top of the page and we’ll create a custom reward tier for you!
This is a hardware project, and hardware development can be a bumpy road! Fortunately, Carrie Sundra has over 10 years’ experience doing exactly this – developing custom electronics hardware.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for most companies comes when they try to turn a prototype into a part that is able to be produced in quantity. Carrie is no stranger to this, and with the help of a small beta group, financed a pre-production run of a dozen units last fall.
Not only did the small run serve to firm up supply chains and work out initial kinks in the manufacturing process, but this also gave the actual SkeinMinders over 3 months of use and abuse by a select group of hand dyers. Their feedback has helped make the SkeinMinder an even better and more robust product.
There’s a small bit of revision work necessary to make the circuit boards, enclosures, and wiring easier to manufacture, assemble, and test. It is all very low risk, and the main elements of feature and product design are already complete (and tested!).
One challenge may be part supply. Even though we are using commonly available components, sometimes factors beyond our control cause one to suddenly have a long lead time. We’ve already identified alternate suppliers for many of the key components, and we already bought and received 100 of the component with the biggest supply risk – the Big Red Button!
Another challenge could be a much higher demand for SkeinMinders than we expected – oh what a wonderful problem that would be! The reality is that there’s not much difference between making one hundred and making several hundred SkeinMinders. No changes in design or logistics are needed unless quantities reach the thousands. This is highly unlikely, as SkeinMinders are only available in the US (for now), and hand dyeing yarn is a very small niche industry.
There’s still a difference between making a dozen and making a hundred, so we expect there to be a few more kinks to work out. We promise to keep you updated at every step of the process, so you’ll know what to expect!
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SKEINMINDER!