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.

vintage people

today was sunny. this meant i did no work whatsoever. not even an email.

i did, however, go into town and do some shopping.

the impetus for being in town was actually to take some boots to the shoe repair place in there, followed by lunch at Java with a friend.

Both of those things happened, but were followed with a trip to Two Squirrels thrift store.

That is where i fell in love with these:

Vintage red kerchief-scarf-thing. i finally have one of those things everyone else has! only i win, because mine is red. even though i cast on for something like this last night at knitting, but in pink.

A gorgeous green vintage apron. do i have a use for this? not even slightly. am i going to try and get away with wearing it over skirts to uni, just because? totally.

They also had these gorgeous wee bags of old buttons, which when i bought one up to the counter, made the lovely guy there grin and pull out a HUGE tin of old buttons, and ask if i wanted to look at some of them too. urk. at that point my eyes popped out and i started drooling, and then (very responsibly i thought) told him i'd have a look next time, and would just start with this bag.

i turned down buttons? gosh, i must be growing up!

i also got some shoes, but if i posted a picture of every pair of shoes i bought, i'd have to completely change the focus of this blog.

Speaking of the focus of this blog, i cast on a new project at knitting last night. i know, i should really be trying to finish any one of the 7 other things i have on the needles, but this is *cashmere*.

Isn't it pretty? from http://www.needlefood.co.nz/ at Craft 2.0 last month. Absolutely gorgeous and smooshy and needs to be near my face so i can snuggle it, so is going to become a shawly-scarf thing. like what i bought today! only pinks and blacks and cashmere. so it doesn't count as a double-up. *looks innocent*

must go, time to cook dinner - i swear there'll be better photos next post!

xoxox