happy chanukah

To follow up with my last post - we ended up going to Deli King.  I gave another coworker a lift after the bowling because she didn't have a car, and she was also nervous about what to order.  I guess kosher restaurants are intimidating/nerve wracking? Who knew.  Which leads me to this PSA:

In a Kosher restaurant, like any other restaurant whose cuisine you are unfamiliar with, you are always safe ordering off the menu.  

Just don't be difficult and start asking for things not on the menu (like swiss on your Pastrami sandwich) or you will look like an idiot.  Same as any other restaurant, right?  Anyways, I was prepared to save anyone from potential mortification but they did fine.  And everyone enjoyed their meal.


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Happy Chanukah everyone!

 

 

 I'm kinda screwed on the Chanukah knitting front.  I realized last night I need to finish
- 2 hats (Mia and Uncle D)
- 6 scarves (CH, Uncle R, Dan, Gabe, Jason and possibly Lizzie)
- 2 dreidel dishcloths (Grandma and Aunt L)
- 2 more Divine hats for Patricia and Noemi
- a Settlers case for Eytan

The deadlines:
Thursday - 1 scarf, 2 hats, 1 Settlers case, 2 dreidel dishcloths
Friday - 5 scarves

Monday - 2 divine hats
I knocked out a scarf and half a dishcloth last night.  Would you believe the dishcloth pattern is wrong?  The Nun is backwards.  Sigh.  I'm not ripping though, I'm going to re-chart the pattern and drop the stitches and pick them back up to fix the Nun.  Ok yeah, that's going to go well!

If I do 1 hat and 1 dishcloth today, 1 hat and 1 dishcloth tomorrow, and the Settlers case Wednesday I will just make it in time...  Wish me luck!

am i too sensitive?

So we're going bowling tonight after work as our departmental Holiday Party.  I'm the Local, so when one of my coworkers thought to organize dinner afterwards nearby so they don't all drive home drunk, she asked me for a recommendation.  My brother's brest friend's grandma owns 2 kosher restaurants (one meat and one dairy) in the shopping center next door to the bowling alley, so I sent her a link.

Then this morning they email me, "Oh look there's an Italian restuarant in the same place".  I told her she can come check out my Zagats (yes I have one at my desk and yes I use it), and I don't think I was being pushy, but I mentioned that we should try Deli King because it's good, "it's like Ben's Deli" I told her - Ben's  we've been to before, and I've actually been there whereas the other one we'd just be trusting Zagat's, and they got Good not Spectacular reviews.

So she says to me (and she's really a nice person), "Well I've never been to a kosher restaurant".
"What about Ben's."
"Well yeah.  But I mean, what if someone wants to order a hamburger and get cheese on their hamburger.  You can't get that at a kosher restaurant."
I was kinda flabergasted, that the possibility of wanting cheese on a burger would nulify the possibility of going to a kosher restuarant.
"Well they have other things, like Pastrami," then I blanked on stereotypical examples to give, "and other kosher food.  If we went to a Thai place you couldn't order a cheeseburger either."

I really don't think cheeseburgers are a good reason not to go for kosher food, but hey I've never had one before so I could be wrong....

A knitting conundrum

Okay knitters, I need some help please.

My cousin Eytan taught me how to play Settlers recently, and it's my new favorite game.  He has also (recently) become one of my favorite cousins, because we've been hanging out a lot and I've come to realize that we make good friends (in addition to being cousins), but that's another story. 

Eytan likes to bring his games when he visits friends, or when we go on Shabbatons, or to Thanksgiving, or basically anywhere.  He devised a series of ziplock bags to neatly pack away his Settlers so that he doesn't have to  schlep the box everywhere, yet all the pieces are sorted precisely.  And you thought I was OCD, lol.  Anyways, I told him I'd knit him a nice bag for his game for Chanukah, and unlike most of my family, he was properly thrilled at the offer of a handknit.

So I both need to and want to do a spectacular job of it- because I like him, and want to thank him for teaching me the game, but also because he'll be properly appreciative even if it sucks.

The idea first came up in August, and I still haven't picked or designed a pattern and gotten down to it.  The family Chanukah party is the 25th, so I have 10 days to sit down and do this thing... which is okay, but I need to get going!

First up: the Fiona bag. Probably in Lion Brand's Cotton Ease.
Pros:
I really want to make one - it's been in my queue for Ages, ever since I saw the one Spinningmaid made for HSKS54
I like the style, and I think he will also

Con:
Not a pattern I am familiar with already - might take a long time to knit up.
Not Felted - the game has small pieces that might slip through the stitches.  Lining is beyond my abilities at this point, so he'd have to have smaller bags to hold the little pieces inside.

Option 2: Quinn Cabled Bag
Pros:
I've knitted it before
It is GORGEOUS and he will love it
It's a simple silhouette so I will have no trouble lining it.

Cons:
It took me 4-6 weeks to make the other one, and I have 10 days.  But it'll go faster now that I've practiced, right? lol

Option 3: Ripple Me This
Never made one before but it looks simple enough...
Pros:
Felted!
Interesting architecture (ripples)

Cons:
Not sure if I want to make him a felted bag anymore, because will it be "less impressive" to a non-knitter?
What if it takes forever to knit?

Options 4&5: Satchel and Maple, Knitty's felted messenger bags
Pros:
Also felted
I've done 2 maples, they are quick and easy and have gotten good reviews

Cons:
See Ripple Me's "less-impressive" concern

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Now I kinda wish I started a Quinn in August.... Anyways, which do you think I should do?  Or, any other pattern suggestions?