As a Christmas present for myself I bought a spindle. I still have spinning on my brain and I am still searching for that perfect travel spindle. It has to have no metal whatsoever and preferably not as delicate as stone or glass, a Turkish style cross-arm spindle would be ideal, I thought. I tried to make one myself, but I did not like that one, so I bought one.
The reason being that a pro spindle maker would make a better product, but I don't like this one either. Maybe it's because the weight distribution is different from the bead spindles I love. Maybe it is something else, but I do not get the same kind of enjoyment out of spinning with this that I get out of the two light bead spindles I made.
It is gorgeous, though. I am going to finish spinning this green embroidery thread and see if I start liking it a bit more once I've gotten used to its physics. Two main points of dislike: it is slow and the shaft is coarse. The second I could remedy by using some ultra fine sand paper on it, the first is due to the shape of the spindle and that I won't change.
For traveling and thread spinning purposes I bought the lightest one that I could find. It weighs mere 9 grams and is seriously tiny. It is exactly what I wanted and I am sad that I do not like spinning on it more.