Craving Spring

I left for work yesterday in drizzling sleet.  While I was inside at the gym, climbers rolling in from outside began by reporting rain, then sleet, then ice pellets, then heavy snow.  I didn't quite believe it, until I clocked out in the afternoon and had to dig my car out from a pile of heavy snow and slush.  The snow didn't stop until close to dark, and left a new layer of white on the ground.  SUPER LAME!!  I'm so ready for spring.  I can't run outside on slippery slush, climbing can be too wet, and it's gray and brown and colorless outside.  I need bright colors and sunlight and a break from all this blah.
Along the same lines, I noticed that I've been less than intrigued by my knitting lately.  The Dude feels like a big heavy chore, the Artist Mitts are pretty but not holding my attention, and I haven't touched the cowl I'm knitting for my mentor in weeks.  This morning, I spread out all the knits in a row, and realized what the problem was- all of my WIPs were various shades of brown or orange- the same droll colors as outside.
Don't get me wrong- I love the autumn colors of the Artist Mitts.  The yarn is pretty, squishy... and exactly the color of all the dead stuff outside.  Same with the Dude Sweater.

Then I noticed one more thing- everything I'm knitting right now is for someone else.  Yes, I love knitting for friends and family, but one of my goals this year was to make more things for myself.
So- what to do to fix this?
Make a trip to the yarn store. :)

First thing's first- I frogged the mentor cowl in the brown Cascade yarn.  I got a skein of really pretty Malabrigo instead- brighter browns and some greens instead of the straight brown that looked like the dirty snow.  I'll cast on for that later tonight.
I also got two skeins of lace weight yarn to go along with a skein of pretty white merino yarn with sparkles that's been in my stash for a couple of months now.

I originally got the Suri Merino during a girl's weekend with my old high school friends Heather and Sarah while hanging out in Excelsior, and I've been waiting for the right time and project to pull it out.  With a luminescent silver and a bright blue skein of Findley yarn, the stars have aligned.  All together, they are going to become a Color Affection shawl- the shawl that took over Ravelry, and is hopefully going to help brighten my spring!  The lace weight will be perfect for a light shawl in the spring and summer, plus the garter stitch is great for a mindless knit to carry around with me!
The forecast for the week looks pretty grim, but luckily I have some pretty yarn to combat it.  :)
Now to keep plowing through the never-ending pile of grading...