Signs of Spring ?

At this time of year I am desperate to see spring arrive and especially after such a hard winter as we have had. I know its not here as yet but we have had a few lovely sunny days in between the mist and rain which gives a glimpse that it might be on the way.
We went down to the beach with the dogs the other day .
The dogs had their first paddle and then the two went straight into the muddiest, smelliest puddle they could find .

This is Borth-y-Gest ,the village I was brought up in and lived until I got married at 20yrs old.

I have lived in a few houses here in our time there but my favourite was the one by waters edge ,which you don't see in the picture but its on the left .In the summer it was wonderful to go out of our back gate and straight into the sea ,swimming and sailing. We then moved into one of the houses up on the hill between Porthmadog and are on the right of this photo.Its still a pretty village but I couldn't go back there to live as it has ,like a lot of pretty villages here in the UK turned more into a holiday village and is dead in winter . I do think its sad when villages end up like this as I remember it full of life and we knew everyone and there were a couple of grocery shops and a butcher shop too. I guess it happens everywhere and nothing stays the same.
The dogs both needed a bath when we got home and then I saw another sign of Spring in the garden. There are clumps of snowdrops everywhere now in the garden ; I so love these little flowers as they remind me of my Mam .

Then as the sun was still shinning I took out my latest finished cardigan to show you. I did a fibre swap with UK Spinners on Ravelry and I didn't know what I was going to make with all the ones I got. I thought they were too bright on their own for me to wear and I plyed the carded single with a single of grey Falkland but I was still unsure about a garment and started to knit a blanket . I then fell in love with the yarn :) I had carded the colours in their different shades and added silk noil and bamboo to the blend and I loved how it stripped so thought perhaps I could live with the stripes . So the blankie got frogged and I made this one in less than four days .I LOVE the FO and will wear it a lot and have other wool in my handspun stash that I intend to use for this pattern .