It's beginning to look (a little bit) like spring!

I brought some trash outside a few minutes ago and lo and behold ... balmy weather! I was wearing only a cardigan sweater, too. I decided to rake out the last of the fall leaves from some shrubbery in a side garden when I spotted this:

See that little bud poking out? Maybe it's our first daffodil. I can't wait to see what pops up in our border gardens this spring since this is our first spring in our new house and I have no idea what's lurking under the mulch. I suspect we're in for a nice surprise since the summer and fall plantings were so pretty.

Despite my burst of energy that helped me accomplish some yardwork, I feel like this today:

The cure? I thought I would cast on a new knitting project since I quickly finished a pair of red and gray felted mittens for myself this week. I was thinking a Stripe Study Shawl in grass green and chocolate brown. Before I cast on, though, I took a photo of the two yarns together, then processed them in black and white to see if there was enough contrast between the two yarns:

Sigh. Not contrasty enough I fear. So it's back to the drawing board. BTW, the green yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in Happy Forest and the brown is from SkeinnyDipping ... Journey Fingering in Terracotta. Both beautiful yarns, but destined to live apart.

Don't forget -- today's the last day to enter the giveaway for Andrew Marr's The Real Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by leaving a comment on the post from earlier this week. I'm closing the comments' section on the entry post at 5:00 p.m. and will do the drawing over the weekend. Good luck!