Now I'm wondering if the ball winder only goes in one direction, and if so which.
That can be important can't it

The woman who taught me to drop spin is also a witch.
Now, as the spinners know, but others might not, there's a tradition that witches spin counterclockwise, and everyone else spins clockwise (and then you reverse it to ply multiple strands of fiber together: the two different directions lock everything in place so it stays put.)
Whenever someone asks about this, I just grin, and say "It seemed appropriate."
(My ball winder, though, only really works one direction. It's not about the cranking, though, but about the position of the arm that directs the fiber onto it. Ball winder is, however, the *best* purchase bar none I've made in terms of reducing fiber frustration.)