SistahKnit BBQ Deux

Hey there my fellow knitting enthusiast's, I am back after taking some time to tend to my garden and knitting one of my most favorite projects....socks. Saturday we had our second annual SistahKnit BBQ and it was awesome, this years crowd was bigger than last years and the variety of food and sweets were exceptional. I met some really lovely ladies who are very talented and gifted in so many other areas.

I have a few pictures of the event and the chefs on hand to feed the group of happy knitters, above is my Girl Harlem Purl; my Guru you can't what she is doing right now because I was too busy knitting myself but she had her spinning wheel with her and she was spinning up a storm with some roving from Moon Mountain Farms, I am not sure I said that right but if you Google it I am sure you will find it. Right now I am just anxious to post something, it has been quite some time since I have done so and I have a few things I want to share with you all.


Here is Marvalousknits and Granddaughter Ami, Marva I hope I got this right, I am not ashamed to say that I have been so busy with my garden and knitting my socks that I have not visited many sites to check up on my fellow sistah's progress even though I see two of them everyday. Priorities are like that at times when you are on a mission like the one I am on. 'O)

Here is Tawana with Saunielle, I hope I spelled it right my friends, It was such a delight seeing you again and meeting Saunielle, it seems that the only way I will get to see any of you is to attend the annual BBQ, that will have to change; we have to make some kind of arrangement to get together at least once every three months or so just to keep up with one another and I could be more diligent with my b-log so that you can see what I have been up to too. Congrats again on you know what! (Smile)


Here is the photo I mentioned earlier that I thought I didn't have, its of Harlem Purl spinning like the pro she is, you go girl; I can't wait to get my Majacraft little Gem, too excited



Here is Sahara of Knitty City with one of her lovely works of art, I think she said that it was a stole; I just love the colors, you should see the sweater she is working on it is awesome, she essentially went through her stash and took about 3 or 4 different spools of wool thread and added some I think she said Alpaca or merino to it before she gave it all a soft twist using some gizmo she mentioned which I have to find out what the exact name of it is because I want one and she came up with the most beautiful mix of colors and the sweater is being made as we speak, can't wait to see the end product, I am sure it will be lovely Sahara is extremely talented.



Below is my friend Will, the best corn griller I know next to Ian, let me tell you that corn was so delicious and sweet and crunchy all at the same time, yes it is possible. That is one of the best way to cook corn, you must try it some time. (Shuck that corn Will) 'O)





Here is Njoya, I hope I spelled it right and Iris' daughter, sorry I couldn't remember names as I was so absorbed in what I was doing...knitting socks. Njoya teaches knitting and crocheting in Harlem I apologize again for not remembering the Library you teach from, I gave the flyer you gave me to Vivian so that she could attend your classes so look for her. I will check Sahara' site and get the correct affiliation you have with the Library and edit my post accordingly. ;O) It was so lovely meeting you and I can't wait to see that shrug and hat set you were working on with straights, wow; you are brave, I would just die if my stitches fell of those straights. (LOL)




Above are the Koigu socks I was finishing up on at the BBQ, the stitch which you probably can't see clearly is the Double Andalusian stitch from the 365 Perpetual Day Calendar, its just wonderful for stitch pattern ideas. I really enjoyed making them and look forward to making some more socks using the Koigu, its just delicious!

Here are some socks I made out of some acrylic yarn from Moda Dea called Sassy Stripes, it was fun making them but I am having a difficult time deciding on how to bind off on the 2x2 ribbing pattern that runs throughout the sock, if you have any suggestions I sure would appreciate it, I have fairly large calves and I need the room, I can't stand anything binding me at all so bring on your suggestions. I thought about a picot edging type bind off, we will see.




Below is a Baclava that I am working on in Patons Merion wool yarn, I am still at the ribbing stage, I have a few morn inches of ribbing to go before I start the hat portion.



I have at least three more pairs of socks to show you, one in Lorna's Laces, the pattern is scrolls and the other is Lisa Souza's Mahogany and I can't off hand remember the stitch pattern yet because I sat it aside to start the Sassy Stripes and the Koigu and I am also working on some Socks That Rock, Chanticleer, I think that is spelled right, anyway it is heavy weight and I deliberately didin't left it in stockinette because it is so thick that a pattern would be lost on it so I decided to place a pattern on the cuff somewhere maybe.

For now I will get back to my kniitting and when I am close to done which I am just about there I will post again.

Chow for now and don't forget I welcome comments on how to bind off in ribbing 2x2 and any other type of constructive criticism or critiquing, ;O)

Now The Fun Starts

Wow, Now it is time to put all the Winter sown seedlings into their new homes for the Spring and there is a lot of work involved but it is well worth it once you see the actual fruits of your labor literally. :o)

Now I have gathered some of the Winter sown seedlings that have survived the Noreaster we experienced this year, it did a lot of damage, I had to replant almost everything.

I mixed some soil and some Sphaghnum moss and prepared my Earthboxes for their new tenants:

Watch as I begin preparing the beds for my green babies ------>

Below is a prepared bed with a strip of vegetable fertilizer to help the little babies grow up strong and healthy and produce an abundance of peppers, squash, tomatoes or squash, etc.

Below I place the cover over the Earthbox and mark the layout for the incisions to be made so that I can insert the little ones so they can begin their growth cycle.


Once I have made my cuts into the cover, I can place the corn, two at a time so that the can support each other as they grow up, I will show you a before and after photo as the corn has grown since it was planted.

Now below are some pictures of before and after, I would have elaborated on much more of the process but there are way too many steps and photos to view, maybe when I get some more knowledge under my belt regarding the flickr feature I will post all the photos from my garden with a short caption describing what you are looking at, until then enjoy the vegetable garden as it grows. I will continue to post photos as everything I have planted continues to grow, I will even supply a list of the different vegetables and flowers I have planted. Enjoy!

See the corn and to the left of it is some squash and in the corner are some peppers, now look below at the same three items:

This is a picture of the peppers in the corner and the squash to the right of it. Here is the corn below.

Wow, look at the corn; its even taller than this now, soon I will have to cut a hole into the netting I placed around this portion of the deck to protect my green children from the critters. Did I tell you about he bat that got caught in the net some time in the night, the photo isn't very clear but I took some other photos with my 35mm camera and as soon as I get the film developed I will show it to you; I freed it and it flew away, it was so cute with its little teeth and long wings, look at it caught in the netting:


Granted the photo is not very clear but I can tell you it was the cutest little thing I have ever seen, you should have heard it screeching as I lifted it up so it could free its wings, he had fangs and everything, way cute! :o)



To the left are my pumpkin babies, I had way too many and I am not certain if they will all grow only because I placed all of them in 5'sq box, not nearly enough room for them to grow properly, I just didn't want them to die and I had nowhere else to place them at the time.

My peppermint before and after, its a perennial and it comes back every year, Thank God; fresh peppermint tea is really delicious.

Now look at my strawberries!
Look below, red cabbage and Brussel sprouts, ummm yum!

Look at the cucumbers they are growing up pretty nicely, I had to place some stakes in the Earthboxe because they began creeping up the netting which eventually the weight of them would have brought the netting down; whew, just in time :o)

I will submit more photos and the garden progresses, for now I will leave you to absorb the wonders of nature taking its course; so cool!

Chow for now