It's called a drop spindle for a reason..

My new drop spindle arrived today from Butterfly Girl Designs. It's a 2.2" Murano foil glass whorl with a 10" hardwood shaft and weighs 1.4oz. It's my first spindle and I picked it because the flower shape has notches, it has a smooth shaft to make it easier to slide the cop off if I want to and it's wide and heavy enough to spin something more than laceweight. I could probably use a heavier one too, but laceweight spindles seem to be the rage lately.

I pulled out the Copperpot Woolies Corriedale again tonight and got right down to it. I owe this fiber everything, because it is so easy to draft and I had an ah-hah moment when it all started coming together. I have to be careful to draft a fairly thin triangle because the spindle is too light to handle thicker fiber. If I let too much through, it would backspin and unravel. I only dropped it a couple times, but my heart stopped each time. The whorl is glass and I have hardwood floors. I put a fleece blanket under my feet to cushion the blow in case it happened again. I'm still working on the rhythm of spinning, drafting, letting the twist up the strand and then winding on. I can't quite figure out what to do with the fiber since I do better with a longer piece of roving than a little stub. It'll come to me, but the Corriedale is really helping make this easier.

So without further ado, my very first drop spindle-spun yarn. It's about fingering weight through most of the cop with a few heavy worsted areas. I'm quite proud of it for a newbie attempt and I can see what all of the fuss is about.