I wish that I could say that I love this blog.  I wish that I could say that I'm sad to see it fall by the wayside.  But if I did, I'd be lying.  I started this blog thinking that I could easily do it every day, or at least once a week, and that it would be a cool way of keeping track and for others to keep track of me.  But, by golly, I've fallen out of love with Live Journal itself.  It's too difficult to post here for me.  So, I'm moving to the all powerful Blogger.  I can easily type out posts in Word and them publish them without having to login and wait for the thing to load.  For all who are interested, I'm moving to http://curtiscircus.blogspot.com/.  Here I will not only be posting about knitting and all things crafty but also about my family and anything else that I want to write, or Randall for that matter as now it's a family affair.

Well, I don't know how many people I told about it, but last October I went to the fiber festival in Asheville, NC.  I went to make a little great wheel, ya know the one that the instructions were posted on the Interweave Knits site?  Although I could have just gone to my local hardware store an purchased the supplies for around $80, I don't have the tools it would take to make those supplies into a functioning item, much less a spinning wheel.  So, I took the class that taught me how to put it together and as part of the class, you bought the kit and built it yourself.  So, I was one proud owner of a Little Great Wheel, and I still am I might add!  The only problem was, I didn't know how to spin with it and didn't know about the class that was the following day that taught you how to spin on it.  ( It's called point spinning by the way...)  So, once I got it home I searched the web for any information on point spinning.  Apparently, it's something that's just taught by whoever gave you or sold you your wheel and thus all reference is very vague.  But, after seeking help on the spinning yahoo group, I was sent to you tube where there was posted a video of how to spin with a great wheel: point spin.  And while watching this video was extremely helpful, I was bogged down in a huge learning curve.  And so, I decided to paint my wheel which only lead to much more time spent in choosing color and pattern, oi!  At last, wheel complete, fiber in hand and needing something to do while I supervised a sleepover with a 5 yr old, 4 yr old, and a 3 yr old, I spun my first skein of yarn.

It's a bit uneven, but I think it's a good start for forging it alone with only a web video to go by.  I have no idea who I purchased this from, by it was labeled as 3 oz of alpaca and I got roughly 180 yards from the fiber.  I think that this was actually part of what I bought with my drop spindle two years ago.

Here's the pictures of my finished wheel:

 And this is a detail of the wheel:


I'm quite happy with it all!

So, What have I been up to?  well, I made some dish cloths, and then a few more.  I made a number of shawls and sent a few away.   And I made a pair of size 12 men's socks.  I hope to post the free pattern for those soon.  We'll see...  They were a birthday present for my brother and he loved them.  I love it when I have successful knitting!

Although I found out that Gordon B. Hinckley died on Monday, it didn't hit me until this afternoon as I watched his funeral on BYU TV.  And now I'm a blubbering baby. 

I know that President Hinckley is a prophet of God.  His guidance was invaluable to me as I went through some tough things in my teenage years.  I will always have a place in my heart for this kind-hearted man.  His example of faith, work and charity will live on forever in my mind and heart.  His testimony of Jesus Christ strengthened my own.

"I hope that all of you will remember that on this Sabbath day you heard me bear my witness that this is God's holy work. The vision given the Prophet Joseph in the grove of Palmyra was not an imaginary thing. It was real. It occurred in the broad light of day. Both the Father and the Son spoke to the boy. He saw Them standing in the air above him. He heard Their voices. He gave heed to Their instruction.

"It was the resurrected Lord who was introduced by His Father, the great God of the universe. For the first time in recorded history, both the Father and the Son appeared together to part the curtains and open this, the last and final dispensation, the dispensation of the fullness of times.

"The Book of Mormon is all that it purports to be—a work recorded by prophets who lived anciently and whose words have come forth "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations" (Book of Mormon title page).

"The priesthood has been restored under the hands of John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John. All the keys and authority pertaining to eternal life are exercised in this Church.

"Joseph Smith was and is a prophet, the great Prophet of this dispensation. This Church, which carries the name of the Redeemer, is true.

"I leave you my testimony, my witness, and my love for each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

President Gordon B. Hinckley
April 1, 2006, Sunday morning session of the 176^th Annual World General Conference

So, I've been glued to my keyboard for days.  And no, I wasn't read blogs or organizing my massive knitting pattern files.  Instead, I've been having a love affair with my photoshop program.  I can't tell you how much fun I'm having designing stunning layouts with it!  If you ever get a chance to use it and play with it.  DO IT.

Here are some of my promotional postcards I just designed:




Although I've made five of these in the last 2 days, I have not stopped knitting for too long.  A few more repeats and my brother's socks will be done.  They will for sure be late getting there, but I'm banking on the long cold Virginia winters to make this gift still as valuable.