When last we spoke Snickers was in a bad way with her rear right leg. The $600+ trip to the emergency vet resulted in a diagnosis of a displaced hip and a torn cruciate ligament, as well as a recommendation to have a $1000 surgery to reposition the hip. The $300+ trip to our usual vet resulted in a diagnosis of a displaced hip and a torn lateral ligament, as well as a referral to an orthopedic vet two hours north.

The $100 consultation with the orthopedic vet resulted in a diagnosis of a displaced hip and a damage to both the cruciate and lateral ligaments. The surgery to reposition the hip and fix the ligament damage is $2600 (not $1000), and there is no guarantee that Snickers will use the leg again. Alternately, amputation -- a mere $1800 -- is an option that guarantees at return to a certain level of normalcy. There is a third option, but neither Joe nor I believe that "putting down" an otherwise vibrant and healthy animal is an option. Call us sentimental fools.

Joe has an appointment tonight with the regular vet to discuss the surgical options. In the meantime, I have been rounding up anything and everything I own that can either be returned and/or sold. This is as much an exercise in fund-raising as it is eye-opening. The fact that I own $70-worth of unused MAC cosmetics is ridiculous. RETURN!

To you sweet souls who sent us help for Snickers, we are forever grateful. Joe is utterly dumbfounded that strangers sent money to help our cat. This man underestimated the compassion of knitters.

My company for my train ride was La Bella Figura by Beppe Severgnini, my Italian homework, and a nearly-forgotten project I found in a black hole canvas knitting bag.

RETRO REDUD SCHLUB
Retro Redux Shrug, Lace Style
cast on: March 30, 2007
cast off: September 23, 2007
yarn: ~ 1.5 hanks Bemidji Homespun
needles: Denise 8, 9, 10, 101/2

This is getting the Roman Empire thumbs down at the office. When your male boss who cares not for fashion scrunches his face...

The Good
It is always good to come out of a bad experience with a positive lesson, and I have learned that I really like the collar on me. I think a modified shawl collar could be in my knitting future. If I have one, that is.

The Bad
Admitting how uncomfortable (to me) and unflattering (to me) this shape of shrug is was a breakthrough. I will avoid all forms of pit-stranglers and breast highlighters in the future.

Ugh! This is a tragedy of sag and bag more frightening than my butt. Who dares present a double feature of droop from behind? I don't!

The Ugly
The lacey ribbing over my arms makes me think of cured meat or cheese pressing against its netting. *gag*

Speaking of ugly...

As you may know, Thursday night is typically reserved for my knitting group. I believed that the collective eyes of my fellow knitters would be the catalyst to seaming the Basic Camisole. Alas, there was something that arose for our leader, Theresa, and she had to cancel group tonight.

Certainly, I could seam the camisole in the comfort of my apartment, and I may do just that. But there is a more pressing issue. I have not yet selected a new knitting project. That was to be my reward for seaming tonight -- a new project.

Now, you are probably thinking that I can just select another project tomorrow, but that is not the case. You see, I am taking an early morning train, and I will not return until Sunday afternoon. Do you understand the full weight of the situation?

I have no train knitting!

Although Christie suggested that maybe I need a little break from knitting to renew my interest, and maybe Italian homework and a good read will have to be my travel companions this round...

As of late, I have felt nothing but drained. Drained of energy. Drained of desire. I cannot be lured into anything -- be it reading, knitting or to exercising. Turning in earlier has had no effect. I awake with a hazy-foggy-drunk feeling. Other than a bite or two of lamb marinated in red wine, not a drop of alcohol that has passed these lips!

The Basic Camisole is languishing, as I am just not up to the task of seaming. When selecting future knitting projects, finishing will be given great consideration. I loathe the process of seaming reverse stockinette. The result -- at least when done by my hand -- is not attractive.


These two-season days are screwing with me. The morning is crisp and autumnal, but by afternoon, I look like a kook in my green gloves and wrap. A pretty, transitional top would be perfect, but even the lure of starting a new project is not alluring.

Our poor little Snickers is injured. When I was home with the flu, I noticed that she was not using her right hind leg. She evaded my attempt to grab her, and hid under the shed.

For three days, I was tormented by the thought of her slowly dying under the shed because of me. Temperatures were nearing 100 degrees, and she was without food or water.

Eventually, she emerged and was taken to the emergency animal hospital. Several hours and several hundred dollars later we learned that she may or may not have a dislocated hip and that she may or may not have torn the cruciate ligaments. A $1,000 operation was suggested. Joe wanted a second opinion.

After twenty-four hours -- and several hundred dollars her regular vet concluded that it was inconclusive. She may or may not have a dislocated hip and that she may or may not have torn the lateral ligaments in her leg. We were referred to an orthopedic vet for surgery. Sadly, we do not have pet insurance, but like so many of you, we do have doctors bills, braces, the college, and a conked-out car draining the coffers. Spending $2,000 on an animal may seem like utter madness, but if you have a family pet...you understand we need to do what we can for this sweet kitty.

Asking for things, particularly charity, does not come easily to me. It would be easier if I could give you something in return -- a pattern for a swanky handknit garment. Alas, I have nothing to offer. Nothing but my gratitude. Even $1.00 would be an enormous gift.

I know that this community of knitters/blogger is wide and strong, and I would not ask if we could afford to do this on our own.

Snicker's Paw
c/o Gina Carpellotti
239 Lime Ridge Rd., #6
Poughquag, NY 12570

Yesterday's post was pure nostalgia for a part of town and two buildings where I had spent a good deal of time working and playing. I never felt that Fate intervened. Given the timing, I would not have made it very far south from 38th & Broadway before I would have been stopped in my tracks.

While my longing for a pastry and cappuccino is ridiculous compared to the longing for a departed loved one, they both illustrate how quickly our priorities and our lives can change. Maybe under all of the wreckage and the grief is this small nugget: do not postpone your life. Dream and love. Take steps to make your dreams -- or those of another -- real. Make amends with an estranged relative or friend.

At the very least, attempt to finish a knitting project.

Last night, I focused on finishing the back of the Basic Camisole. I bound off knitwise on the wrong side (K5, P1) just because I liked the looked of it better, and it is not doing that annoying "roll" that a bind off edge often does. I think the real trick is that I bound off (per the pattern) using a US 4 needle -- rather than the US 6 I am using for the bulk of the knitting -- and the result is a stable bind off "line" that is visually pleasing and not curling one way or the other.

Small pleasures!


It would please me greatly to finish this before every leaf is off the trees, but I still have quite a bit of work to do. I have the neck decreases to work on the front, and the sides need to be seamed before I can move on more finishing. The straps will need to be sewn once they are knit, and the collar needs to be sewn on as well before all is done.

I hesitate to put even a vague deadline on this. I have been terrible about knitting -- and keeping days of the week straight -- for several weeks now.

It seems trite and predictable to say this now, but that day did feel different. The weather was glorious, and yet, I felt off-balance. I felt that strange sense that my body and mind were disconnected and moving at different speeds.

I woke up late and rushed to the gym near my apartment only to discover that my favorite class was cancelled with the revised schedule. Undeterred, I took the subway to the branch near my office on Broadway. Clearly, I was not thinking. All of the branches had revised their class schedules. Lacking the energy and focus to workout solo, I opted for the sauna to sweat out my tension and ponder my future.

Work was quickly eating me up and burning me out. I needed a day to myself. I needed a trip to Ecce Panis for an Italian Sweet Bread and a cappuccino, and I needed to be far from the office. There was only one place where I could have all of that.

As I called my boss from the gym locker room, I saw one of the directors with whom our division was to meet that afternoon. If I called in sick, she would surely mention seeing me at the gym, looking rather healthy. I had no choice; I had to go to the office. After all, I could have my Ecce Panis Italian Sweet Bread and cappuccino at the World Trade Center another day.

And six years ago as of 8:31 a.m., that was the truth.

Oh, hello. It's Thursday. That means it's knitting night, and I am supposed to be seaming one Basic Camisole this evening. Well, I thought yesterday was Tuesday, and when I posted my little knitting goal on Monday, I actually thought it was Sunday. So, you see that I was robbed of a full day of knitting by my inability to keep the days straight in the face of a three-day weekend.

This is what I have thus far, my sweets. The lace collar of the Basic Camisole blocking on my nude kitchen table -- tablecloth awaiting a hot date with Mr. Iron -- without a camisole to which to attach said collar.

It displeases me to fall short of a goal. If only work did not consume valuable knitting hours, I might have a shot at making the goal. Perhaps I should have called in "knit"?

Rhode Island, Not Rip Island

While family and money issues preempted plans for a long weekend away from home, we felt the need to get away for at least a day. Joe is often spontaneous, which results in anything from enjoying a sunset at Minnewaska to enjoying a late lunch at Crazy Burger.

The Cancerian in Joe was craving some water time, so we packed up for a Rhode Island beach day. I regret my youthful folly of opting for maximum sun exposure, and these days I cut an interesting figure on the beach. Yesterday, I sat in skirt and shirt -- under a big floppy hat -- knitting away while others lay prostrate to the scorching orb.

In order to bask in the warmth of knitting progress, I laid it out on my lap...


It is as if there is a tank top conspiracy afoot. Sure, it is easy to mess up stitches -- if you are knitting a complex cabled garment! But 5 x 1 ribbing? I should be able to do that blindfolded, but since I am using a splitty silk yarn, I have to keep my eyes glued to the project. I must have unglued them at some point and blithely knit on, unaware of the small but significant screw-up buried in my work.

Determined not to rip back, I decided to drop the offending stitches and pick them up correctly. Do you think I could find the adorable compact crochet hook -- for the purpose of picking up dropped stitches -- I purchased in Olympia? At least I did find a random crochet hook feeding off the bottom of my knitting bag.

Provided I continue on without mistakes, this should be ready for seaming Thursday. I would like to have a new handknit for my yarn store's First Friday Knitting Party.