A textile yarn winding apparatus for winding a continuously produced yarn, said apparatus being of the type having spindles carrying two axially aligned flanged bobbins and a yarn guide which is reciprocated along the length of one or other of the flanged bobbins so as to lay yarn wherein the yarn guide may be moved from its path along the length of one bobbin to a corresponding path along the length of a second bobbin when it is desired to transfer the winding from one bobbin to another, whereby the take-up of the yarn continues without interruption, the yarn being led from the surface of the completed bobbin over the adjacent flanges of the completed and empty bobbins to the barrel of the empty bobbin thus connecting the two. Yarn severing means is arranged to engage that part of the connecting yarn which extends at an angle between the flange and barrel of the empty bobbin so as to sever it but not before the yarn guide has been driven in the direction of the flange of the empty bobbin adjacent the completed bobbin. This ensures that when transferring yarn from a completed bobbin to an empty bobbin, the tail of the yarn left on the empty bobbin after severing is kept to a manageable length and the initial winding of the yarn on the empty bobbin is tightly and securely wrapped around the barrel thereof.