sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

August 13, 2007


restaurant week retrospective
posted by soe 11:54 pm

Twice a year, many D.C. restaurants open their doors for a week to more frugal gourmands and invite the public to partake of a portion (or the whole) of their menu for a prix-fixe three-course meal. The lunch usually corresponds to the year ($20.07 this year) and dinner is a tenner more.

Over the years, I’ve gotten the chance to dine at a number of fine area restaurants: Zola, Café Atlantico, the Tabard Inn, D.C. Coast, and Rasika. Generally, I’d say that I’ve had very good luck with my restaurants. Reviews abound of surly service, a lack of choice, and unexciting meals. But for the most part, I’d say that I have found the wait staff to be fine, the choices sufficient, and the meals well executed.

Last week marked the biannual celebration and I found myself at not one meal, but three: lunch at Ceiba and dinner at Agua Ardiente and at Kaz Sushi Bistro. (more…)

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exactly.
posted by soe 11:13 pm

In a world where it’s become progressively more difficult to differentiate between our daily papers of note and the supermarket tabloids, it’s hard not to agree with the sentiment expressed in this editorial in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune, “What would Harry Potter do?

(Via Chappysmom.)

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August 9, 2007


cool, nature’s oven, and velvet
posted by soe 9:29 am

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Descending into the depths of the Dupont Circle Metro station, which is air-conditioned, from the outside, which is not.

2. Picking up a chocolate croissant for breakfast early at the farmers’ market on Sunday. By the time I finish my shopping and return home, the chocolate inside is all melted and warm and perfect.

3. The velvet fuzz on a young buck’s antlers and the velvety-looking fur of Suzanne and Grant’s new kitten.

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August 8, 2007


frustrating evening
posted by soe 8:48 am

When I got home yesterday evening from swimming the four blocks from the Metro to my door, I decided it was a perfect time to finish knitting the baby sock I’m working on. I spun up an episode of CraftLit (I’m behind a bit, because I like to save them until I knitting to listen to them), pulled out the knitting, and cranked away.

At eight, I switched on the tv because there was a new episode of Miss Marple on PBS. (I find I don’t watch a lot of tv these days, but I really do dig certain PBS shows, particularly British mysteries.) Knitting while watching a character knitting… What could be better?

The culprit was outed and I turned my full attention back to the sock, eager to see if I was at the toe decreases yet. I was! But, lo! What was that back several inches, in the midst of the lace?

I had screwed up the pattern.

All of a sudden, what should have been an eight lane highway veered off on one side as if a mysterious exit ramp had magically appeared.

I had a vague recollection that I may have discovered myself a stitch short at one point, decided that I had accidentally decreased on the previous row, and blissfully did a lazy fix of increasing a stitch because it was easier than pulling my attention away from Miss Marple’s keen eye for detail. Ah, the irony!

(I would like to note here that I have the utmost respect for those knitters who, when discovering a mistake in their knitting, pull out the camera before pulling out the stitches. I find myself so frustrated in those moments that I can’t even envision taking the time and energy to document my own stupidity. Or maybe it’s to shame the knitting into better behavior, like a Thai police officer in a Hello Kitty armband?)

So I ripped back to the gusset decreases to fix my mistake. My frame of mind was not helped by the fact that Cascade Sassy Stripes is not a particularly fun yarn to work with. It is splitty and it tears far too easily. Add to that that I was having difficulty figuring out where I lost the YOs as I attempted to put the yarn back on the needles, and you have a sprite on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I mean, I already talk to my knitting; it wouldn’t take much to push me over the edge…

Luckily, Rudi came to my rescue with a bowl of chili and a bag of lime-flavored chips. He put in FOUR of the hot peppers from our garden, so for half an hour all I could pay attention to was that my mouth was on fire! By the time I returned to the sock, I could once again focus on the pattern and figure out how to make it work.

Rudi headed off to bed a little while later as I sat knitting in my rocking chair. I plugged my headphones into the iPod and then promptly dozed off. I awoke at 2:30, knitting in my lap, dishes unwashed, contacts still in, and ready for the night to be over…

How was your evening?

Category: knitting. There is/are 3 Comments.

August 6, 2007


into the stacks 13
posted by soe 12:17 am

My theory was that if I wrote about the books as I went along that I’d be faster in posting my reading roundups. Clearly that just isn’t so. Instead it gives me time to think about what I’ve written and how I’d like to say something else and it just gets delayed by the normal amount anyway. Such is life… On to the books! (more…)

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August 3, 2007


you still come here for the knitting?
posted by soe 4:54 pm

Silly people!

It seems that I have difficulty reading and knitting at the same time. I mean above and beyond the normal reading and knitting simultaneously. But I find that if I’m on a reading kick, my knitting suffers and vice versa.

And then when I do finish a project, I don’t take a photo.

But, today, I have a finished object — a pair of them, in fact! — complete with photos!

socks

These are a pair of footies I made out of a single ball of Cascade Fixation. This is my first contribution to the Summer of Socks Knit-along that I joined back in June.

I made up a pattern in June to make a similar pair for Mum and decided after I was done that I absolutely needed a pair for myself. I had a single ball of Fixation in this colorway of teal, blue, and purples — some of my favorite colors — and knew immediately this was the yarn I was looking for.

Clearly, I like color:

Color!

(Please pardon the mud on my sneakers. This was the pair I was wearing during the rain storm Shelley and I got stuck in last Friday, and I haven’t cleaned them yet. But they do give you a feel for my wardrobe, don’t they?)

I’m wearing them today and absolutely love them, particularly the eye of partridge heel. It makes such a pretty design! There are definitely more pairs of these footies in my future.

Category: knitting. There is/are 6 Comments.