I don't want to alarm anyone. And I'm afraid to say it, just in case it jinxes something...

but...

I think it might be spring.

I'm not convinced that yesterday's lovely weather will hang around. It's been going back and forth from warm to cold so many times it feels like a seasonal slinky.

But it isn't just the weather that makes it spring, is it? It's that ... I don't know... springy feeling. That "out with the old and in with the new" desire.

January 1 (a day I'm particularly fond of, being as it's my wedding day!) has always seemed an odd time to try to "start over" with a New Year's Resolution. Sure, it's time to switch calendars, but it's still mid-winter. Cold bleakness is still permeating all surroundings. It doesn't exactly inspire change. The start of a school year used to be resolution time for me - "this year I'll..."

But after school, there really isn't a set "beginning" to a year. And so I choose spring. When the world is reborn, so can I be. I don't need to follow a calendar, no need to sound off horns at the moment of the vernal equinox. There is a natural feeling come springtime; an itchiness just before it happens, a yearning to get "out there and do something"... A desire to clear out the old, to see bright colors and smell freshness in the air. My "Spring Resolution" is to learn something new - even if it's just about myself - with every project I take on this year.

I worked in the garden yesterday, putting in ground cover plants with tiny white and glowing blue flowers. Planted the sunflower seeds the minister gave us at Easter right at the corners of the house, near the daffodils. Took out an old azalea that doesn't grow anymore and replaced it with a small trellis to prop up the newly planted blueberry and golden raspberry plants. And of course, greeted my rosebuds with a smile and whispers of encouragement. And I learned that I hate pulling weeds. Not because of the kneeling, and pulling, and tugging. Because - who am I to tell these plants, these hardy little rebels, that they don't belong there? I simply couldn't do it. So GB pulled plants, and I put the new ones in. Whispered my little prayer that they grow healthy and strong.

I finished the back of my alpaca/modal sweater... not happy with the shaping of the shoulders, even though I'm sure I followed the pattern, but that can be fixed when it's sewn together. I'm planning on teaching myself Combination Knitting from Annie's book (check out the modeknits link on the right!) when I do the front two pieces of the sweater... The sleeves will be worked two at a time on two circs, but I have to have the front of the sweater done, as I haven't decided whether to make full sleeves, or elbow-length - mustn't run out of yarn!

The next sweater will also be alpaca, this one EZ's no-sew pattern, with a cable on the front. The body will be a nice soft grey, like a baby mouse, and I think I'll do the cable with spring green and cream... haven't done a cable in a different color than it's base before, so that will be new, and I think look lovely.

Challenges, rebirth, growth, newness.

It is spring.


Thoughts for the Day:

Mark Twain - It's spring fever ... you don't know quite what it is you want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so.

Henry David Thoreau - Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

Unknown - Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.

Edward Giobbi - I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become, I will always plant a large garden in the spring. Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from participating in nature's rebirth?