Fast Cabled (Twisted) Fringe

There's nothing I like more than finishing a great scarf with cabled fringe--it gives the scarf a very finished look, I think, far different from plain fringe.

I made about a half dozen scarves with cabled fringe this summer, painstakingly twisting each fringe by hand until it doubled over and twisted into itself. My hands were numb and stinging by the time it was finished, and it took forever. I normally use up about 120 yards for two fringed scarf ends.

I kept meaning to order a yarn twister online, but somehow forgot each time I got lost in lust shopping for yarn, far more interesting to look at! And each time I had to twist fringe, I'd dope slap myself for forgetting to order an inexpensive fringe twister online.

I'm finishing up a scarf today, which will be going out in the mail this weekend, and all that's left is blocking and putting on the fringe. Of course, I still don't have a yarn twister, so I tried improvising in order to save the hours and hours of hand-twisting each fringe.

I stuck an end of my doubled over 30 inch piece of yarn onto my yarn winder, taped down the end to the winder head, since I didn't want to wind the yarn into a ball. I then started cranking, and held the other end of the yarn up so it wouldn't automatically wind into a ball.

VIOLA! 30 seconds later, I had a perfectly twisted fringe, 7 inches long! I quickly made a dozen more fringes the same way, and it worked splendidly.

Just wanted to share that little discovery/tip for those who would love to do cabled fringe, but don't have a fringe twister (looks like a roach clip from the 60's!) and don't have the time or patience to twist by hand. If you have a ball winder--any brand will work--then you also have a double duty piece of equipment on which you can wind perfect cable fringes in a hotflash!