new project

What a ghastly week it's been--a friend threatened with deportation (not her fault, her employer's), another friend possibly starting to reject a transplant, another waiting for test results to see if he has pancreatic cancer, still another who lost her mother after a long struggle with cancer.

And my job reclassification request was turned down, so there goes the raise. Consider it an understatement to say I was disappointed.

And my poor itchy Timber. His beautiful coat is all harsh and greasy and he smells bad. :( As soon as I can come up with $40, I'm taking him in for a bath. I've switched him off food that contains chicken, beef, wheat, corn, and/or soy (and yes, that's both expensive and not particularly easy--imagine my dismay to realize that all the treats in the cupboard contain chicken!). I'm giving him benadryl 2x a day. And I bought a vacuum cleaner, just in case he's allergic to dust/dust mites/etc. The vacuum of choice on the German Shepherd list is the Dyson Animal, but that's way out of my price range, so I settled on something for around $100. Well, it's not equal to the challenge of two long-haired German Shepherds, I'll tell you, and I have to stop every 10 minutes or so to dismantle the thing and disengage all the doghair clogging it up, but I think it's possibly better than not vacuuming at all (I have wood and linoleum floors, so I've been dry-mopping). To get really serious about the house environment, I'd have to wash the couch covers and bedding every week and get dust-mite-proof covers for the box springs, mattress, futon mattress, pillows, and comforter. Plus a cover to cover up the dustmite cover on the comforter.

So with the need for Timber money in mind, I took on a new editing job--I'll be editing a novel written by a 16-year-old girl. I can't say I'm looking forward to it, but $20 an hour is a powerful incentive.

Meanwhile, I've started a new knitting project. I NEED new sweaters to wear to work, so I told myself to look at my stash, pick something out, and make one! So I began with this pattern: http://parallaxknitting.com/pdf-pattern-minimalist-funnel-neck-magknits-october-2006/ and a beautiful yarn from my stash, NKI Baby, which is 55% baby alpaca, 22% superfine alpaca, and 23% silk, and has a vaguely handspun look.

Of course I immediately started making changes in the pattern. For one thing, I asked myself if I really wanted to do an entire sweater in 1x1 ribbing, and the answer was a resounding NO NO A THOUSAND TIMES NO!! So I switched it to plain stocking stitch. Also switched from a ribbed funnel neck to a rolled funnel neck. And naturally the yarn I'm using doesn't work at the gauge called for in the pattern, so I just sort of--guessed--at my cast-on. I know, a recipe for disaster. But last night I put the sleeve openings on waste yarn and spread the body stitches over a 40" circular and the 24" circular I'm working with and tried the thing on, and (a) it goes over my head, (b) the armholes are big enough, and (c) the body seems to be big enough, so now I just keep knitting until I get to the bottom, and then do the sleeves. I'm waffling between knitting a couple of inches of 2x2 ribbing and making a hemmed bottom. I'm waiting to see about the sleeves--I'd like to make them longer than elbow-length, but I'll have to see how much yarn I have for them.

So far I'm happy with it (yeah, famous last words)--the yarn is sooooooo soft, completely delicious to work with, and very well mannered--NO splitting or twisting. It's a rich golden-brown color that will go with lots of things. Next time I put it on the long needle to try on, I'll take a picture.