I knit… I garden… That’s about it….

Damn, I thought I was just going to be compiling glossaries today so I was all set to go and work outside, but I’ve just had a transcription come in, so looks like I’ll be stuck indoors with the world’s most ginormous wasp instead.

Spent the weekend at the bf’s mum’s house as she is moving and we had to help clear the garage and loft. I did my best to save as much as I could from landfill, but things still crept into the skip when I couldn’t make a convincing case for putting them on Freecycle. Including a perfectly usable single bed and a bike, repairing which would have been cheaper than buying a new one. I did manage to salvage (for my own use) several plant pots, an old wooden lavatory cistern and a hanging basket for growing things in, plus a beautiful wicker picnic hamper (which the bf immediately placed in the loft, as the ugly free M&S cool bag donated by my parents is ‘practical’) made by the bf’s grandfather and a pair of curtains, and the bf found some apple juice that was three years out of date that is now in a demijohn in the downstairs bathroom, bubbling away.

I have also acquired a desire never ever to move and never ever to hoard things I don’t need. Books and CDs are going on Freecycle as I write this. It’s hard, though, to work out what to get rid of. I have so many CDs and books that getting rid of the two I might feasibly not like much seems like a very small drop in the deep, stormy ocean of decluttering. One birthday card takes up very little room, so keeping them seems innocuous, but assuming I’m lucky enought to have 60-odd more birthdays, that’s a lot of cards to keep….

My sock is driving me mental! I keep knitting about three rounds and then discovering I’ve gained a stitch, not being able to figure out where, having to unpick it all because it’s messed up the ribbing and hurling the four-needled sock monster at the wall shouting, ‘No! No! No! I’m not knitting you any more!’ I mean, going barefoot isn’t that bad….

I am having more success with the cardigan though. It looks more or less like half a cardigan! I’ve been preening and feeling proud of myself since it started getting big enough to be recognisable.

Peas and beans are out in the garden and still alive, but being rather recalcitrant and not climbing the canes. Planted some salady greeny things yesterday and will pot on tomatoes later today. I also think I saw some peppers coming through. And some wee potato shoots are poking their muddy heads above the soil. Hurrah. I also weeded one side of the garden in deference to suburbia and not having to spend a month sorting it when we move out.

Oh, and I’ve been reading ‘Animal, Vegetable, Miracle’ by Barbara Kingsolver and it truly is inspiring. I thoroughly recommend it. I really want her life now – write fiction, grow vegetables, have entrepreneurial children who run their own egg business…