Ginger Alhambra

Its done!  Actually, it's been done for a while but a week with no internet at home has left me a little behind the ball in sharing what's going on.

Here is the Ginger Alhambra:

 

I'm really pleased with this and am quite sure the recipient will enjoy it as well.  This is the second time I've knit this pattern and like many things, it gets easier with time.  This version worked up much faster and with fewer errors than the first time I made it.  I don't remember the finished dimensions, but I was left with only a fourteen inch tail when I finished casting off.  I also used blocking wires for the first time...my goodness - what a revelation!  

I'm starting to harvest from the garden now.  I've had salad greens for about two weeks, radishes, peas, herbs and a few days ago I pulled some of the tastiest turnips that I've had all year.   We boiled them up, mashed them with some carrots and a dab of butter and served it alongside sausage.  Not what I'd consider a traditional summer meal, but it sure tasted good.  

So now I'm thinking about how exactly I'm going to store the turnips.  I have more than I can eat immediately and I want the space in the garden for another crop.  And since they're the perfect size, I want them to come out now.  I had a quick look online and confirmed that I can store them much like potatoes.  So I have a box that I'll fill with some slightly damp peat moss in the cold room, I'll pull them, cut all but an inch or two of the tops off, and layer them in the peat moss.  I think the trick here is going to be managing the moisture level in the peat moss.  Too much and everything will rot, too little and the turnip will shrivel.

The potatoes, and tomatoes are flowering, the cucumbers have flower buds on them, the peppers and beans have buds, the onions look fantastic, the broccoli looks like broccoli and with the recent heat I can just about watch the corn, pumpkin and zucchini grow.  

My food bill is about to drop.  Which frees up more money for yarn.  It's a good thing.