This pic incorporates several projects, the spindle, the blue bamboo thread, and the crocheted pouch under the brown dish. And of course, all done under close cat supervision 
(Longer blather for those that care):
The spindle is prototype 2.0 for a support spindle class I’ll be teaching the end of this month for Fibers/CA. I’ve been messing with cheap easy parts to hack into cheap easy-assemble minimum viable product so that folks can try it cheap, take home and practice, then later upgrade to nice spindle if they want. Although actually, I’m liking this one quite a bit. I see some pyrography or paint in its future. Maybe both. I altered the physics of its spin in the way I sanded the angle of the top end of the spindle, and placement of the whorl, and it works a lot better now.
Then obviously, I’ve been test-driving the spindle. My current spinning project, the blue thread, is bamboo. It’s spun from a clouded prep (poofed up using handcards). This spindle right now represents many hours/evenings of spinning so far (fine thread is slow-going). This is a practice project while I’m making friends with spinning bamboo on this type of tool versus spinning wheel, deciding which tool I’ll use for a larger project, same type of fiber. So I’m leaning towards the support spindle. Enjoyable and portable. Slower than the wheel, but easier to get very very fine thread. I plan on weaving with it. So the blue is practice for the spinning tool and technique, and later working out the weaving. The actual project I’m sampling for is bamboo fiber dyed in Monet’s Waterlilies colors that I want to spin into thread to weave a long narrow curtain for the tall skinny window beside my front door.
The blue crocheted thingy under the brown dish the spindle tip rests in during spinning, that I crocheted out of some wool/silk handspun extra I had laying around because I wanted a pouch that I could store the dish in to protect in so it didn’t get banged around in the storage box (12" plastic pencil/school box) I keep my project in when not in use. Plus it needed to double as the cloth I use under the dish spinning (I keep something narrow and long so I can roll up one edge and rest the dish at a shallow angle while spinning so the spindle tip is kind of in the corner edge of the dish, not scooting all over). So I designed the pouch big enough for the dish, but and extra long flap, so plenty of room to roll and adjust its function as needed.
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