bemused spring

"Lifeless in appearance, sluggish dazed spring approaches"

William Carlos Williams wrote those words around 1923 and good poetry being universal and timeless and spring being spring, it still resonates. Especially today when the sun is (temporarily?) bright and warm. But let me tell you about yesterday.

And this morning.

Williams also wrote, "the overall picture is winter". Yes. All afternoon and night, first day of May (the lusty month of) snow fell on icey fields and disappeared mountains. I heard that in Mora (where I went a couple of weeks ago) they had ten inches! In less dramatic ankle deep snow this morning, without the familiar wind, the horses moved about in the early sun. A meadowlark cheerfully sang from the top of a fencepost and vaporous clouds like amorphous waste fibers from spun fleece dissipated against a cold pale blue sky. One of the horses, hearing me outside (taking pictures) ambled over to say hello.

He would have stayed awhile - these guys are big friendly creatures - but Spike went crazy and barked ferociously until he moved away. When I tried to calm the dog down he snapped warningly at my hand. So much for domestication and dominion.

finding spring in unlikely places
There weren't any movies that we wanted to see or that we hadn't already seen numerous times on any channel last night so, as the snow fell outside, I read and knitted and finished the latest Colonnade shawl in the "catalpa" Lorna's Laces shepherd sock yarn.

Still in petite shawl mode I searched through yarn totes and found an Alpaca Sox UFO in a nice spring green that I'd put aside after completing a plain triangle section. It was started for a different pattern but the basics were the same and I only had to knit three rows to meet the stitch count for the shawlette. I clearly remembered what I'd planned with that yarn and also that I'd unsuccessfully tried the lace pattern several times. It wasn't difficult, but each time I started anew, after about two inches one side went all wonky and I never could figure out why. There was no errata connected to it and I simply accepted the premise that my mind and the designer's just weren't in sync. No regrets. Now it will become something else. So easy to correct bad knitting decisions. If only.

under the surge of the blue
mottled clouds driven from the
northeast - a cold wind
                              William Carlos Williams (excerpt from "Spring and All")