A yarn winding apparatus comprises a rotating drum having a winding part rotatable at a predetermined peripheral speed for winding yarn around a peripheral surface thereof, a transferring part for successively transferring the yarn as wound around the winding part, and a storage part for storing the yarn as fed by the transferring part, the winding, transferring and storage portions being disposed adjacent to one another in the order named, a toothed wheel for catching the continuously supplied yarn around the rotating drum, and a yarn guide for guiding the continuously supplied yarn onto the winding part of the rotating drum. The yarn layers as wound on the winding part are to be discharged successively to the storage part through the transfer part so that the yarn winding speed can be kept always substantially equal to the peripheral speed of the winding part.