PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a yarn winder and a yarn winding method which can suppress the occurrence of failures such as cob-webbing.SOLUTION: A yarn winder 1 includes a traverse guide 22 for a traversing operation which traverses a yarn Y to be wound into a package P with the traverse width according to the package P, a needle thread catching guide device 60 for a needle thread catching guide operation which catches the wound yarn Y in the package P to guide to a yarn piecing device 3, and a unit control section 5 which stays the traverse guide 22 in standby in a first standby domain in a first period in which the traverse operation is stopped while the needle thread catching guide being operated, and stays the traverse guide 22 in standby in a second standby domain positioned inside the traverse width than the first standby domain in a second period before the start of the traverse operation and after the lapse of the first period.