Knit-a-Blanket Project, Stripe 6

My knitting speed has taken a massive hit since being back at work 60-70 hrs a week. I just finished the fifth stripe in Pagoda! With three stripes left, I'm hoping to be done with this blanket by March.

Five stripes down, 3 left. Here are the stripe colors so far (all using Caron Simply Soft yarn)
Stripe 1: Grey Heather
Stripe 2: Country Blue
Stripe 3: Dark Country Blue
Stripe 4: Ocean
Stripe 5: Pagoda

Stripe 6 is in Berry Blue.With today being my day off and with no plans to be productive, I hope I'll get a good chunk of this done today.

Cheers!

Knit-a-Blanket Project, Stripe 5

Four stripes down, 4 more to go. Here are the stripe colors so far (all using Caron Simply Soft yarn)
Stripe 1: Grey Heather
Stripe 2: Country Blue
Stripe 3: Dark Country Blue
Stripe 4: Ocean

About 4 feet wide

Each stripe is about 7 inches long

Stripe 5 is in Pagoda. It's hard to see a clear difference between Ocean and Pagoda in the picture below but it's there. Hoping to finish this one by Monday night and onto the 6th stripe. This whole thing is coming along quite nicely and rapidly. Looking forward to picking out the yarn for the next project!

Love, Chris & Bonnie

Knit-a-Blanket Project, Stripe 4

Yay!! Done with three stripes and five more to go. Got turned onto a PBS show called Downton Abbey and have really been getting a lot of knitting done as I catch up past episodes.
Here's the color scheme so far:
Stripe 1: Grey Heather
Stripe 2: Country Blue
Stripe 3: Dark Country Blue.

Stripe 4 is in Ocean. I'm hoping to be done with this stripe and halfway through the next by the time Chris arrives (Friday night!!)

Knit-a-Blanket Project, Stripe 3

Yay!!!! The first two stripes of the blanket are done! I'm finding that it takes about 3-4 days of lots of knitting or 4-6 days of moderate amounts of knitting to finish each row.
So far, I've used Caron Simply Soft yarn in Grey Heather and Country Blue. Here's how it turned out.

Yes, there are a few errors in the grey stripe that I'll fix at the end.

Now it's onto the third stripe in Dark Country Blue.

Couponing Score

This week is a good week to stock up on the essentials such as shampoo, deodorant, conditioner, moisturizer. For those in Cleveland, Giant Eagle is having a sale on Suave products and when combined with coupons from RedPlum circular, the savings are well-worth spending a bit to stock up. Here's a sample of my take-home this week. 

4 - 22oz bottles Suave body lotion - $2 each (normal $3.59) 44% savings
8 - Suave Professionals Shampoo or conditioner - $1 each (normal $2.50) 60% savings
2 - Suave Men's Peppermint Shampoo - $1 each (normal $2.50) 60% savings
2 - Suave Men's Styling Pomade - $1.49 each (normal $3.49) 57% savings
2 - Suave Men's Styling Paste - $1.49 each (normal $3.49) 57% savings
4 - 2.6oz Suave Deodorant - $0.50 each (normal $2.29) 78% savings
8 - Whiskas Temptations Cat Treats - $0.95 each (normal $1.89) 50% savings

The smart cat found the treats first. :)

Overall, I spent $53.12 for $99 worth of groceries or 46% savings which included produce and some non-sale items. Not too shabby.

Knit-a-Blanket Project, Stripe 2

I've completed the first stripe of the blanket using Caron Simply Soft yarn in Grey Heather. I ended up using about 80% of the skein as it was getting larger than I anticipated. The stripe is 38"x8". Here's how it turned out.

Now I'm working on the second stripe in Country Blue. I started this stripe on the same end as I started the first (i.e. tails on the same side) and again, I'll use the entire skein. Here's how it looks so far. More to follow!

Oh, I don't even know what to title this...

A very B-type thing happened to me this evening. I've been fighting a cold and my burning throat was not even amenable to ice cream! So I trekked down to the store in my building to find some relief. A pack of Sucrets for $7 was more than a bit unreasonable and since it was between snow squalls, I chose to head out to the CVS for a more fiscally reasonable option. I was the only one on the sidewalks. Well, that is for the first 2 blocks. Then, in front of me in the middle of the icy, snow-covered sidewalk is a man face down, not moving. "Shoot!," I thought. I looked around but no one was around except for the plow truck oddly stopped with the driving eye-ng my predicament. There was no blood around the guy so I thought he might be hypothermic and/ or drunk. I tried to get his attention with multiple, loud "SIR? ARE YOU OKAY? SIR? CAN YOU HEAR ME?" No response. His big puffy coat kept me from being able to see his chest rise and fall with each breath.
"Great," I thought. I just stumbled on a dead guy in the middle of a sidewalk in downtown in a snowstorm. I decided I'd give him a little nudge with my foot. The minute my foot touched his hand, he leaped up and started laughing. "I'm not dead! I'm alive! You thought I was dead! I'm good!" I proceeded to remind him of the obvious: the windchill was close to zero and he was sleeping/passed out face down on the icy sidewalk. He didn't seem to care as he resumed his position. Not knowing what to do in this situation, I went onward toward the store and got my sore throat lollies. I took a different route home.

I did mention this to a police officer but apparently, they are unable to force those under the influence into shelters in this type of weather.

The experience was funny on the surface but really sad when I gave it more thought.

Knit-a-Blanket Project, Stripe 1

PurlBee.com pattern

Since finishing my mom's scarf for her Christmas gift, I've been thinking about knitting a blanket. I love a simple garter stitch blanket. It lays flat and keeps it shape. I wanted this blanket to be soft and shades of blue and grey. I found a style I liked on PurlBee.com and decided to run with it. After driving by the Ohio version of A.C. Moore and discovering that yarn was buy one, get one 1/2 off, (Score!) I bought eight skeins of Caron Simply Soft 6oz. 

For needles, I used US size 10. The PurlBee site says to use size 7 but those were just a bit too thin for me to get the gauge I wanted.

I cast on stitches until the length was about 30-32". Once the blanket is longer, I'll let you know the exact length and number of stitches.
Starting off with the grey heather color. Been working a couple days on this stripe and estimate it will be about 7" wide when this skein is about done. I'll be updating the project as I go along.

Corn Chowder, B Style

Since making chili, I have been craving corn chowder but not the pour out of a can kind. I wanted the home-made style. So I pulled out the trusty Joy of Cooking that I secretly swiped from my Mum years ago and got to work. The recipe was not totally what I wanted so I modified it a bit to suit.

Corn Chowder B Style

Ingredients
-Two 14.5 oz cans whole kernel corn, drained & rinsed
-One 1/2 red pepper, seeds removed & chopped
-5 small red potatoes, peeled & diced
-1/2 yellow onion chopped
-Olive oil
-Flour
-1/4 tsp paprika
-1/2 tsp salt
-3-6 tbsp flour
-Pepper
-Red pepper flakes
-Water
-2 cups Fat-free milk

Directions
-Sautee onion and red pepper in olive oil until onions are translucent
-Combine potatoes, onions, and pepper in large pot
-Add 2 cups of water
-Simmer about 45 minutes or until potatoes are soft
-When potatoes are soft, add 1/2 cup milk, paprika, salt, and 3 tbsp flour
-Bring to a boil and while waiting heat up remaining milk and corn
-Add milk and corn to pot and reduce to simmer
-Add pepper and red pepper flakes to taste
-Add flour until chowder reaches desired thickness (I love a thick chowder)

Even Jinx enjoys!

Vegan Chili!

This past Friday afternoon, Chris made vegan chili for my parents and I. I am not usually a chili person but figured I'd give it a shot. And it was phenomenal! But a bit spicy and that's even when he cut back on the red pepper flakes. So today, the first real big snowy day in Cleveland, seemed like the perfect time to recreate the chili with a little modification on the spice.

Boerl Vegan Chili 

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
2 large or 3 medium Russet potatoes, washed & peeled
1 can red kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can whole kernel corn
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 medium yellow or Spanish onion
1 red pepper
1 small can tomato paste
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Red pepper flakes


Directions:

1. Chop potatoes into large bite-sized pieces
2. Pour olive oil into frying pan and fry potato until golden brown
3. Drain beans, corn, and diced tomatoes and put into large pot
4. Chop red pepper into bite-sized pieces and put in pot
5. Chop onion and put in pot
6. Put golden brown potatoes into pot
7. Add tomato paste to thicken to taste
8. Spice with garlic powder, pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes to taste
9. Heat on medium until hot
10. Serve with biscuits or rolls and Enjoy!