Ah, you found my flaw I was hoping no one would find! I am chagrined to admit I didn't know how to actually block the player from walking off the platform until the upgrades were purchased and just hoped no one would notice you can actually pick up all the upgrade items from the beginning of the game. Sorry about letting your progress get stopped like that. I also wanted to add a toggle to the spinner so the player can turn off the auto turning to threads, but ran out of time before I could figure that out as well. So I completely agree with your constructive criticisms and those all need changed.
Thank you so much for your feedback!