One way to tell that Spring is coming is to watch for the crocuses to start breaking the soil.  Another way (for me) is to notice that it's not dark in the morning when I leave for work.  This was Wednesday morning and you can see the sunlight just starting to show.  It was beautiful and I stood outside just watching the sky.  It's less depressing to go to work when it's not dark.   Unfortunately, this will only last until March 14 when Daylight Savings Time hits the east coast here again.  I keep hoping we'll give it up and just leave time alone but not this year.

I am inordinately proud of this.  It's the beginning of my Evenstar shawl.  It's only the center and I haven't even started the actual pattern.  It took me about 10 tries to get the circular cast on and keep the stitches on the needles and not get them all twisted and to not leave extra large holes.  I was determined last night to do this.   After 3 additional tries, I finally got it using Emily Ocher's crochet cast on.  It makes beginning stitches that are more stable and easier to manage.  This is the thinnest yarn I've ever used and it's like thread.  I just managed to get it onto the smallest circular needles in the options set.  As I look at the photo, I can see it's not perfect but it looks good to me.  I don't know if I have the heart to start again and blocking will help even out the center (I hope).

We spent our hour at the gym after work.  I'm getting used to walking around slightly sore all the time.  I look forward to the day when I can get up from a chair and not feel the soreness, though.  It's not bad at all, just a gentle reminder that my muscles would rather I leave them alone.  I sat in the whirlpool yesterday.  It is set to 101 degrees F.  (38 C)  I felt a little like I was being parboiled for some soup!  If I had seen some carrots float by, I would not have been surprised.  The chlorine level is so high that it made my eyes water but the warmth felt good.  I am going to have to find a bathing cap if I want to swim in the pool.  Chlorine levels this high will play havoc with my hair color.   (image borrowed from Wikipedia) 

As I came back to the locker room yesterday, I could hear the sound of a hairdryer.  There was a woman standing in front of the mirrors drying her hair.  Naked.  Now, I am not a prude and have no real problem undressing in the locker room or have any problem with other women undressing but it seems a little strange to stand naked in a semi-public place and dry your hair.  I'd have to put on my clothes (at least my underwear) first.  Or am I hopelessly old fashioned and this is normal gym behavior?  It's been many years since I was using a gym on a regular basis.  This woman was my age or older and was a little loose-fleshed, not a young, taut body showing off.  She was totally un-selfconscious and complimented my hair color.  It was weird. I don't think I'll get to the point where I'm that easy with my body but who knows?  I kinda admire that.

The snow is shrinking a little bit every day.  The temps today are supposed to be above freezing so we'll see some more shrinkage.  The grass is starting to show at the edges of the lawn.  As long as it continues to melt slowly, we're ok.  In December when we got all that snow, it was all gone within 12 hours in a warm rain.  Talk about flooding......

This is a long weekend for us.  Pk's birthday is Tuesday and we took off Monday and Tuesday to give ourselves this weekend.  No plans, just time.  I'll get the laundry going and start the pattern on the shawl and spin some more of the lovely roving I have on the wheel.  I have an angel food cake to bake and some ice cream to buy (I'd make some if I could find the dasher for the ice cream maker) but otherwise, my time is my own.  What a luxury that is.