who stole the sand from the hourglass, and who filled it up with stones, drawing time to a close?

my oh my, where did that month go?

i swear i intended to post often and frequently, but i also thought i would notice the weeks passing me by...

so what have i been doing to warrant such fleeting time? studying, mostly. starting to write my thesis, as scary as that sentence sounds. currently not as hard as i had imagined, but i think i've started with the easy bits, and the time is passing me by so quickly...

so, you ask, what crafts have i been up to? what crafts! well. um. not a lot, i'm afraid to say. or at least, nothing worth photographing - little bits of progress here and there on a cabled scarf in the most sumptious black alpaca/silk Debbie Bliss, on my crochet afghan of doom, on dad's Dr Who scarf (please don't ask how long it's been since i started...), and on my bronze cardigan. whew! sounds like a lot more when i say it like that!

i do have a couple of photos to show that i had promised previously...

Mushrooms! a gorgeous six-panel teatowel; a smaller four-panel towel, and a single panel by itself. i just had to get them all! $2 from the Red Cross shop. i think the single panel will go as a patch on a bag, or maybe on one side of a potholder? the other two i'm not sure yet! they will sit until inspiration strikes.

and just so you don't think i never, ever finish anything...

Socks! my Charade socks, in al their firey glory. okay, a bit washed out it the sunshine, actually, but you get the idea. finished just in time for spring! yeah...

The other thing i have been doing lately, is spring cleaning. In anticipation of moving in November (our lease runs out and we want a nicer flat, with y'know, insulation and all that fancy stuff) i've been cleaning out a lot of my stuff. old clothes, books, and cds have been donated and thrown, and i finally dug into the two "misc" boxes that i haven't unpacked really since i moved out of my dad's place, oh, four years ago? they were quickly decimated, ruthlessly shed, and what few things i kept reintegrated into other areas of my room. but stashed away in there i did find a wee surprise. a suggestion that, maybe, maybe i knew where i was headed afterall.

Owls! charts for two Tawny and two Barn owls, plus an expanse of aida cloth. i have vague memories of begging my mother blue for this one day when we were in the craft store, when she was probably getting supplies for her never-ending Castle cross-stitch. i remember she kept showing me little mice, and flowers, and things done in thick wool, simple little kids kits. but i was adamant i could do the owls, i would do an owl for her and an owl for dad to go with their big dragon/unicorn/fantasy collections of stuff. i never did, of course - i think i remember mum buying one or two colours of floss to go with it, but i don't know i ever even started. but i kept them, in the paper bag they came in, with the aida. so maybe, even before i really knew i was destined to fall in love with textiles? i like to think so. and maybe i'll still stitch an owl or two for mum and dad, just to remind me why i love them.