I'm totally hooked on spinning now. I got the wheel last fall, and didn't have a lot of time to really start spinning, but last week, I finally started. I'm addicted, it is even more relaxing than knitting, and the sound of the wheel is actually meditative. So here are a few pictures ! The first few show some koolaid dyed roving, in reds, white and burgundy tones. The basket is some roving I bought at the fiber festival that Young's Dairy farm sponsors in the fall.

The Franklin Park Conservatory

During all of this, I did get a chance to go down and see the Orchid Garden at the Franklin Park Conservatory. I find it so relaxing and rejuvenating to walk thru the various biospheres and the Palm House. Though I do not docent there right now, too much to do with college work, I still find it well worth the effort to go down there several times a season. Here are a few pictures!
The colors on this one remind me of the Temptations scarf I am making now with the Noro Silk Garden sock yarn, in the reds. Though one thinks at first the yarn is predominately red, there is quite a bit of green and pink to it.

What I have been up to

Well, the 1st part of the year totally got away from me. My son and future daughter in law had picked August 8th as their wedding day, with the thought that my daughter, who would be serving in the Peace Corp by then, would be able to come back for the wedding. On Feb 15th, they announced that they would get married in March instead. I'm thinking, oh 6 more months to get ready, that will work........no Mom we mean March 2009 on the 8th. AAAAAAAAHHHH.. but this way my daughter could be at her brother's wedding since she leaves after that for the Peace Corp. So in three weeks time, in between tests, term papers and finals, we planned a beautiful wedding, 4 bridesmaids, flower girl and ring bearer, found a church, I altered 3 bridesmaids dresses, remade the flower girl dress, the basket, the veil, and my dear friend created a beautiful cake. The wedding was beautiful, the bride beautiful, the groom estatic, and I was not totally exhausted. During this too, 1/2 of my department at work was laid off, so a little more stress was added. But it all worked and that is what counts!

I finished these adorable little gnomes. While I wish I had saved wine corks all year long, so that the corks themselves had a bit more interest, I didn't. I bought a package of 100 at a wine making shop, and now have plenty. This used up just scraps of Noro Kuyeron or any worsted/Aran weight yarn. It could easily be adapted to other weights too. Here is the link for the pattern: http://www.madebymanne.com/korknisse.html
We had a beautiful snowfall last night, so got an outdoor shot with my new camera!

Now I have a blog!

I've finally done it, and am creating a blog. I've thought about doing this for a while and just haven't gotten around to it, or thought it was difficult and would take lots of time. But so far ( LOL two sentances into it) it was easy to create. I've called it the Creative Cafe, as i'm always creating something in my spare time. I work full time, and am a part time student, but my knitting is always with me, and there are various craft projects around the house.

I am a beginning spinner too, so I will see how that goes! So have a cup of tea, and watch for more postings!