My Mom sent me a box of merino wool roving and her drop spindle (thank you Mom!) It was interesting to spin with a store bought spindle rather than my cobbled together bits.

I don’t like spinning directly from the roving, however. I was having trouble with fiber management and drafting. I know some wrap the roving around their forearm, and others use a variety of distaffs, but I still let too much twist into my fiber and often need to untwist a bit so I can thin out the draft. So I made some rolag type things. The videos I’ve seen on making rolags for spinning take fiber that has been carded. I don’t have large carders (yet), so I spread a section of roving out (like Halloween spiderwebs), and layered two colors together (to double the amount of finished yarn, honestly), then rolled it up perpendicular to the fibers. I think these rolags are easier to manage as I am still learning.