Spring fever

[How about those storms last night, local readers?  Glenn Burns was having a blast with his stormtracker radar thingy, instilling panic in citizens throughout the metro area.  I can't say he totally over-reacts, because I know things did get bad in some places.  But right here, we had mostly gentle showers all night, apparently with some thunder and lightning around 2 am, which I slept through.  We awoke to minor drizzle, gray skies, and birds tweeting. And now the sun's out.]

Spring is just about here.  Are you feeling it?  Here in the ATL, we typically don’t have much winter anyway, but this year it’s been even milder than usual.  But something switches on in my brain that says, SPRING!!! and gets very excited.

This winter hasn’t been cold, but it’s been gray and dreary often enough that my eye is craving COLOR.  Last weekend I took myself on a little shopping spree (for me, fifty bucks constitutes a spree).  I bought makeup, and bras, and tried on some clothes that I had no real intention of buying—I just needed some newness, or at least ideas for newness.

For whatever reason, lately I’m obsessed with this color of green:

Jade?  Malachite?  Whatever.  A cooler green than I normally wear.  I figured it was too far to the blue end of the green spectrum for me (blue makes me look barfy), but I tried on a top in this color, and it turns out that I look AWESOME in jade/malachite/whatever.  The style of the top wasn't great, so I didn’t get it.  But now I’m plotting what I need in my new color.  It's a gap in my wardrobe that must be filled!

Speaking of Closing The Gaps, I spent the winter knitting a brown cardigan that I need to show you, when I feel like having a photo shoot.  My hair has been going through an... awkward phase lately, so I’m not feeling very photogenic.  I’m kind of growing it out again, but right now it’s not yet longer, just wider.  It makes my head look three times bigger than it really is. 

I’m blessed/cursed with a ton of hair.  Seriously, I have to wear a size Large hat, and no other part of me is even close to large.  My hair/self ratio is freakishly out of proportion.  Sometimes I have fantasies of shaving my head (sort of kidding), but then I’m afraid my head would suddenly look really tiny (mostly kidding).  These are the things that keep me up at night (definitely kidding).

So, someday soon I’ll show you that brown cardigan, maybe with my head blurred out like some guy on Cops who didn’t want to sign a release form.  In the meantime, I decided I also really, really needed a black cardigan (and really, how do I not already have one?  I don’t know.). So I started knitting that, but I’m already bored with it because it’s BLACK and as we’ve established, I’m craving COLOR.

I also started sewing a new top.  It’s colorful, but it has also black in it, so my hope is that it and the black cardigan will want to play together.  It’s this pattern, which I’ve made three times before, but this time I’m doing the cuffed short-sleeve version that the model is wearing: 
and this is my fabric:

More details as all these projects progress!  What are you doing to get ready for spring?  (Or, for my southern hemisphere readers, autumn?)

Comments

[Stacy]

Marco: "I can't grow my arms." LOL! Tricky fit problems like this are exactly why sewing is such a great skill to have.

[Marco]

I adore that fabric. I've been thinking lately about learning to sew shirts because I can't find anything that really fits me well. My arms are so short. That coupled with the 25lbs I've put on really leaves me little option. I'm working on the weight issue but I can't grow my arms. I also am in nirvana over the early 60s fashion revival. I regularly review vintage clothing sites and drool over clothes I can't afford. But I bet I could make them. Hmmm...how much a is a sewing machine?

[Bam Bammerson]

Love your post! Check your email for a possible solution for your hair dilemma. (why does this sound like spam?)

Getting ready for spring by getting sick, apparently. An actual spring fever.