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Yarn bowls

Yarn or knitting bowls are designed to hold your wool in place and help keep the right tension on the wool while knitting. They also provide an attractive place to store projects in progress.

A green and white striped yarn bowl is sitting on a wooden surface with a white ball of wool inside
Yarn bowl with wool
Birds eye view of a white yarn bowl showing the spiral of dark green copper oxide on the inside
Yarn bowl from above
Two yarn bowls, one in green and white and one in blue and white, sitting on a pale background.
Green and blue yarn bowls

Generally the wool is threaded through the ‘j’ cut in the front, but wool can also be threaded through the holes. Multiple holes are useful for keeping separate colours separate but I also add more holes for decoration.

The walls of the yarn bowl curve in to help stop the wool ball from jumping out. Depth wise however, there seem to be a range of schools of thought, so I do both shallow and deeper bowls. My bowls are typically 15cm or 6 inches in diameter, enough to comfortably hold a 100g ball of wool. 

I love making yarn bowls because I love altering thrown forms. I’m always interested in hearing how people use them and I’m also up for any special projects if you want a bowl of a specific size!