Three steps forward, two back...

 ...or, just use the right tool for the job, already!

When I started the #SMAL (that's the SpinTogether group's Selfish Make-along), I was feeling lazy, and used the wheel that was closest, even though it wasn't ideal.

It was working - mostly.

Only the Thumbelina is a low-ratio, double-drive wheel, that pulls like a small pony, even at a tension low enough to make it occasionally throw the driveband... so my hands were crampy and unhappy, and the yarn was a bit undertwisted in places... and I was concerned it might drift apart if I wasn't super careful with handling it.

...So I took a deep breath, grabbed a handy spice jar, and gently rolled the contents of that bobbin onto it. 

It only drifted apart twice at that stage, but there were some dodgy bits, and I expected it to be... interesting. It was! In all the ways implied by the old curse. I know it doesn't look like much, but the process of winding it off, and adding twist as I ran it onto my Lendrum (joining it together a few EXTRA times, of course) - took several hours. I was being fussy about trying to get a good foundation on the bobbin, so took more time than I could have - but the first couple layers are the most crucial to how a bobbin fills.

...Ended up with this:

 My Lendrum is OLD - like, it has a bolt holding the footman on, old... and I'm at least the 4th owner - I haven't invested in the newer fast flyer - so I'm using the ancient, hooked (rather than sliding hook), 'fast' flyer - with ratios of 10 and 12:1. This makes it about twice as fast as the previous wheel - which should help. It also has offset hooks on both sides, so I have more control over how to fill the bobbins.

I also own the Very Fast Flyer, but I'm spinning this for a shawl, and figured I would get as much of it in one piece as I can - the VFF bobbins are comparatively tiny. 

With that done, I settled in to my second Zoom meeting of the day, and got this far before I needed a break. My hands were still tired from the work of spinning everything on the wee pony, and I was getting sloppy with my technique.

I'm hypermobile, and I got into the TERRIBLE habit years ago, of rolling my thumb back when managing twist. I'm working on changing that habit, but it's always gotten me results, and it became somewhat ingrained.

I stopped for the night because my thumb knuckle was getting grumpy, and I wasn't having a lot of success focusing on NOT hyperextending it, because my hands were fatigued. Making it worse wasn't going to help things proceed. (it's a part of my process that needs to change, because it's going to be harmful in the long run)

Now I get to see what sort of progress I can make on a better tool. I hope there's time to do what I want - this will be a lovely yarn when I'm done. (most of the credit goes to SweetGeorgia Yarns though - it's one of their old Club Braids)