I received my new spindle + whorl + wool kit, made myself a distaff from a dowel and a band of fabric from my bag of odd pieces, and decided to start trying with some of the modern top I was already used to.
Between the different technique and the lack of a hook it feels a lot like starting again from scratch, but I'm starting to get back a tiny bit of consistency and the yarn is no longer breaking every other metre or so. I'm happy I kept the nice wool for later, however.
like this