Spring Forward!

Spring is on its way in! The weather is getting warmer; I actually went out yesterday without having to put on a coat, scarf, gloves, and hat. In fact, I didn't wear any outwear! That was quite refreshing. Leaving the house goes a lot faster when you don't have layer on clothes.

The birds also know that winter is almost over. For the last couple of weeks, the birdsong in the morning has changed from the winter calls to actual song. The birds are beginning to stake out their territories and it won't be too much longer before we have birds starting to make their nests around the yard.

The bulbs are coming up, as well. They actually started coming up in January and were stopped in their tracks when the weather finally (thankfully) turned cold. Last week I noticed that the crocuses were blooming...little bits of color in an otherwise brown bed. The daffodils are beginning to bud as well.

And since the weather was fine, Tom persuaded Emma to make her first foray onto the deck. She was very, very cautious, keeping her belly close to the ground. I missed her maiden journey because I was helping a friend move. Emma didn't go out today because we were over at our friend's new house during the warmest part of the day. As the days get warmer, Emma will go out more. Hopefully she'll stay on the deck or in the back garden. The county animal shelter microchips all of the animals that come in for adoption, so if she wanders and gets picked up by Animal Control or someone else, we'll get her back quickly. We need to get her used to wearing a collar, though.

Knitting News
There's not much to report. I'm resisting the siren call of the Socks That Rock yarn. I've completed two repeats of the Fair Isle bands on the Christine sweater. I finally frogged Tom's original scarf and skeined the yarn. When I soaked it to get the kinks out, it lost a lot of the original loft. I'm a bit worried about that, but what's a girl to do? If worse comes to worse, one half of the scarf will be at a slightly different gauge. And maybe the new yarn will flatten out to match the original yarn after I wash and block it. At the very least, I'll learn something new. Hopefully I won't be learning that I messed up yet again.

The knitting group at work is still meeting and mostly everyone is showing up if they are in the office that day. It feels so good to sit and knit with other people. The conversation sort of meanders around in the way that conversation does with knitting groups. Anne is knitting an intarsia sweater for her nephew and she's done a wonderful job. Stephanie is working a sweater. Laura is just getting back to knitting and is using up all of her old yarn trying out different techniques; her next projects will be a sleeveless shell for her daughter and a little coat for a young niece. Jackie decided she didn't like knitting a scarf and is working on a little purse made out of one of yarns that looks and feels like suede. My knitting group projects will be Tom's scarf and then various unfinished sock projects. Everyone's work is very good.

That's about it for now. Time to check on the foccacia dough. Tom's going to make chicken parmigiana for dinner. My contribution will be foccacia with carmelized onions and roasted red peppers, fettucine, and some sort of spinach dish. I can't decide between spinach sauteed with olive oil and garlic or spinach with lemon. Hmmm...maybe creamed spinach... Time to consult my Marcella Hazan cookbooks.

Buon appetito! Have a great week!