Thanks for your answers. They have all been helpful, and you all sound like you were right there watching me make this curled up mess! Yes, I think I should draft thinner clumps of fiber, because occassionally the yarn snags on the spool hooks. Maybe I am expecting the pull to be grabbing it out of my hand, and not just gently pulling. I will fidget with small incremental changes in tension, and see if I can find a magical setting.(posted 9611 days ago)At last attempt, I did manage to get about a half of a bobbin full, so that's progress. I will have to learn on this wheel, because I won't be getting another one.
Thanks for all the help and encouragement. I keep telling myself that it's a new wheel, and I'm a new spinner, and this wheel and I will work it all out. (That is, if I don't end up burning it as firewood first)