A yarn withdrawal apparatus for continuously withdrawing a yarn from a feed yarn package and then from a reserve package, where the trailing yarn end on the feed package is knotted to the leading end of the yarn on the reserve package. The transition of the yarn from the feed yarn package to the reserve yarn package is detected by a sensor, which includes a movable yarn guide, which moves during the transition from an inactive position to a signaling position in a first degree of freedom of movement. To prevent the movable yarn guide from rebounding when it reaches the signaling position, the yarn guide or an element connected thereto defines a second degree of freedom of movement which is different from the first degree of freedom of movement, and such that after the rebound the movement is of such a kind that a departure from the signaling position back toward the inactive position is geometrically not possible.