My new Turkish spindle... ]= leaves something to be desired.

It left a little to be desired.
I got it from knitpicks at ~15USD.

I was having trouble spinning with it. Its not as smooth spinning as the other, more expensive turkish spindles I've tried.
I had to replace the shaft because it wasn't gripping the spindle arms properly. The larger arm kept getting stuck on the yarn.I mean, its OK with some sanding. I sanded the bumps on the underside of the spindle.

 For future reference, if anyone else wants to get a turkish spindle (they are fun to use and safe a lot of work, look them up on google), get one where the arms are smooth, and the spindle shaft fits tightly into the slots.
The shaft in the picture is my tighter fitting chopstick.

Here are some after pictures of the spindle, after I spent some time sanding it with 60 grit sandpaper.

At the moment, its only fast enough to spin some dk weight singles. I have been practicing trying to spin bulkier yarn than sport-weight or dk, so its good for beginners at least, after its been sanded. Here are some images of the spindle after it had been sanded, with my handwashed and hand carded romney fleece.

The cat... his name is Tiger. He didn't want to move so... I guess he's in the picture. The other two bottom whorl spindles are of polymer clay w/ chopstick shaft, and the other is a toy wooden wheel with a dowel shaft. Both handmade by me.

-MNR