Excesses, exercise and shawls......

Let me tell you, my friends - your comments have made me grin today. I like you. All of you.

There is a state of emergency in my garden right now. I have run out of pots. A friend popped round with excess vegetable plants and they are now in a holding pattern - think planes flying in circles - until I can magically enlarge my garden, find a way to grow things on the roof or, more sensibly, go down to the allotment and squash them in there. I see no reason why beans cannot grow among the potatoes. At least the potatoes down there look the way potatoes should, and not like the sorry state the ones here are in. At the same time I potted the new veg, I decided that 27 petunias in one pot was overdoing things, so I now have 27 separate petunia pot-lets and roughly the same number of calendula. Let it never be said that I am a mean gardener. I believe in plenty of seeds. The only trouble is that they all seem to be growing and I HAVE RUN OUT OF ROOM.

Sigh.

I need an estate or two.

Well, my garden is miniscule. However, I manage to fit in masses so there is no reason to moan, Linds. None at all. Mumble mutter.

David is looking quite presentable today. His hair had not been cut since January. It has been cut now. Therefore the kitchen has been vacuumed. And the sun has zapped in and out all day, so I have zapped in and out with the washing all day too. Rain, sun, rain, sun......April weather in June. It has been all mixed up this year, hasn't it.

The doctor has finally signed the medical "permission to do moderate exercise" form for the gym. She has also signed Glynis's one, so we are good to go. I need to do something about the woeful state of the core muscles asap. I remember when they were strong. Once upon a time. Long long ago. Actually, not that long ago, now I come to think about it. 5 years ago. They require urgent attention. So does the rest of me. However it is the spa which holds huge appeal right now. Bubbling water. Solarium. Bliss. Ok, so there are the aquarobics and pilates classes too, and the resident physiotherapist. I know he is in tomorrow, so I want to go and ask him what he knows re CRPS. If he knows loads, I will make an appointment with him and get him to organise a programme for me. If he looks confused, we will give him a miss. I will resemble Twiggy in no time. The combination of the gym and the lettuce glut here in the garden should work.  I can avoid all shops for the summer.

Now. Prayer shawls. I had seen one or two in Blogland, but I honestly knew nothing about them until Jean went to visit her in-laws, and a lady from their church popped in and asked if Jean's mother-in-law, who is very elderly, would like a prayer shawl for her special birthday. They explained a little about their shawl ministry, so Jean, who loves knitting, trawled the web and found out all the details. It is absolutely fascinating. She started on a complicated pattern while she was staying here, and when I was thinking about crocheting something, I decided to use some of the wool stash and knit a different pattern. It is the 3 plain 3 purl one, for 3 rows, which makes a sort of basket weave look.

Knitting is not something I do by choice. I am too impatient to follow patterns. I tend to toss them over the shoulder and knit what I think will work. I think I told you about the mohair sweater I knitted while sailing north to Europe from SA with Geoff one trip. I wore it around England for 10 days, and when we got back on board, I ripped it out and invented another one which I wore in SA. Then I ripped that one out too. I think my mother still has some of the balls of mohair somewhere. Or maybe she crocheted a blanket with it.

So knitting is not my best thing. I knit scarves. They are quick and simple. but this shawl is special, and I really am loving it. This is the website we have used and here is where the patterns are listed, together with tips and ideas. Just keep scrolling down the page. Loads of links.

But I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed knitting this shawl. It is white, and I am already planning the edging. Maybe with some beading. It is nearly finished. And maybe one day I will actually download the photos on my camera. Trust, remember. I did actually write a post re trust, but that can wait for another day.

Right. Time to deadhead things out in the garden. Then the couch will be calling. So will the knitting needles.