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Monday March 22, 2010 | 09:26 AM

 Knitting. Card playing. Gathering around a computer to watch what's going on in Washington.

 Signs of spring?

 Nope. Signs that the end of the legislative session is near.

 The Appropriations Committee officially began work at 1 p.m. Sunday (although at least some of them were here much earlier) to try to finish up the budget. At 10:45 p.m., they broke for more negotiations.

 As of 12:18 a.m., there were still 28 lobbyists in the room (and three reporters).

 At 12:44 a.m., Chairwoman Emily Cain, D-Orono, called for a "family meeting" and beckoned leadership and all Democrats on the committee to go in the back for negotiations. Not too much later, the Democrats came out but there were no Republicans.

 At 1:30 a.m., Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, came out to apparently deliver some bad news to the Democrats, although it wasn't clear exactly what was said.

 Then at 1:39 a.m., they reconvened and voted on several items, including a $225,000 cut to the State Planning Office, the reinstatement of longevity pay and the elimination of three additional shutdown days, and restoring a lot of money to adult education.

 Finally, it came time for the last item, debt service. At 2:05 a.m., Cain moved debt service "out" of the budget, but said the motion was not to be interpreted "as a signal in any direction" with regard to bonds. By 2:08 a.m., the meeting adjourned, and the committee promised to come back this afternoon for a final vote.

 All in all, a good warm up for the crazy days ahead in the next two -- or maybe three -- weeks.

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