Winding the balls of yarn by hand is sometimes nice and almost meditative, but often you are in a hurry to start knitting. The fastest way to wind a skein is with a winder, which gives you yarn for a beautiful "cake", from which the yarn runs both on the top of the ball and on the inside.
Knit Pro's plastic winder is a good basic model that is sufficient for the basic needs of a knitter. The parts of the device are mainly plastic, the fixing parts are metal. This device is sturdy but light and can be stored in a small space.
The winder device is clamped to the edge of a table or other surface. By turning the crank, the device winds the thread onto the ball, from which the thread conveniently runs from the inside of the ball as well. Winding is most convenient when you put the skein in the yarn swift, where the skein rotates by itself while you turn the crank of the winder. It is also possible to use without the yarn swift, but you need a friend to hold the skeins, and the finished cake may not be as smooth as when using skeins.