Spring has Sprung...Kind of

April in Vermont is technically spring, according to the calender, but you are just likely to be shoveling as you are gardening. A couple days ago, I looked at the flower bed in front of my house and there was no snow. Images of purple pansies and yellow tulips came into my mind as I began to imagine the possibilities of an earth warm enough to support flowers. Yesterday, snow began to fall and my flowerbed (see picture to left) became a repository for snow instead of a vacant plot of earth just waiting to support a menagerie of flowers. I have spent enough winters in Vermont to know better than to think that the snow would be over after March 21st, but being the optimist that I am I fell hard for the beutiful spring-like weather last weekend. To my defense, this is my first spring living back in Vermont in eight years and it is easy to forget about April (and sometimes even May) snowstorms. When I woke up this morning, there was at least six inches of fluffy snow and our yard looked more like a winter wonderland than a potential garden. People like to complain about the weather, especially when there is snow in April, but if you step back and try to forget for a couple of days that it is "supposed to be spring," you can actually enjoy the beauty of a spring snow followed by a relatively mild day. As Bob Dylan's song says, "You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows".
Plus, when there's still snow on the ground, it puts me in the mood for fiber fun. I am half-way through my second pair of socks. Since my first pair was worsted weight and I used #5 needles. I decided to do this pair in sport weigh with size 3 needles. I mean, who needs worsted weight socks in April. It's spring! The toe is Louet Gems and the rest of the sock is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. Oh, that sock makes my heart pitter patter. I think I'm in love.

Speaking of beautiful sock yarn, I recently acquired this beautiful skein of wonderous wool from Pippi. What's even better is I got to purchase it in person. Pippi and I, as you may be able to tell from the similarity of the landscape and weather in my picture and the picture in Pippi's April 5th post (today) we are neighbors. Well, not exactly neighbors, but in Vermont I think ten miles apart still constitutes neighbors. She came to knitting night at the Knitting Studio, which is actually a secret meeting of the Central Vermont Society of Anarchists (Shhh...Don't Tell). The colors in Jammin' are even more beautiful in person. Until the tulips decide to pop up, I think I will just meditate on the greens, purples, reds, and yellows in this yummy yarn. Maybe if I concentrate hard enough, the colors will start to appear in nature, too.