I expect you are wondering what happened to me - SO AM I! On top of craptastic internet that is so poor it won't let me open my blog interfaces so I am email blogging right now, our wireless router died so now my computer is hardwired into the satellite modem until we get a new one and I have to share my computer with everyone here. Oh - did I also mention that since my computer was working at a crawl it eventually needed a clean install of Windows and - yup, you guessed it - my home grown tech support didn't "quite" get all my files backed up so I lost ALL the pattern links for Friday Freebies that I had lined up for last month and the next 2 coming months. (actually the entire file of links from the past 2 years...) *sigh* And I won't regale you with tales of how things have been going at work lately - after all, I AM trying to run "just" a fiber blog here!

SO - on to the main event! I am looking for advice - hopefully a lot of opinions! You probably noticed I've had some wheels listed for sale. I was hoping to purchase my "dream" wheel, a Lendrum, which I did. Sad to say the dream was a nightmare and I really hate it! In fact I would like to sell it but I need to find something to replace it with, which is why I want advice. The hard part is I live in the sticks and am in no position to go somewhere to try out wheels, it's just not going to happen. So I am hoping to get some benefit from your collective experience and help me decide where to start looking.
The reason I switched to the Lendrum from my Baynes (which I loved) is because while the Baynes is fine for finer yarns I couldn't ply with it or spin art yarns. The Jumbo flyer for the Baynes was an afterthought and didn't work well with the small wheel frame. This is the one feature I actually love about the Lendrum, that I can switch the flyer and ply with it.
What I wasn't expecting about the Ledrum is that the double treadle system was designed by a moron. I can't control the wheel when stopping or starting. This may not sound like a big deal but but it's a huge deal to me, coming from a Baynes where I had almost perfect control of the wheel with my feet and I almost never had to touch it with my hands. What I hate most is that the wheel has it's own "sweet spot" where it wants to sit at rest and it always unwinds about a foot of singles before it stops moving when I stop spinning and because of how the double treadle is set up I can't even stop it with my feet. I have been spinning with it every day for over a month and my frustration hasn't changed - this wheel HAS to go but I don't know what to replace it with.
Please feel free to ask questions but Please! Please! tell me about YOUR double treadle wheel that has a big bobbin option for plying/art yarn! I am SO open to suggestions! Oh, I posted this wheel rant on the Canadian Spinners Group on Ravelry under the For Sale Or Trade thread so if you'd rather reply there where it's rather "chatty" head on over!