Nothing like opening with a complete nonsequitur: Dang, this site looks bad in IE. Get thee another browser if you’re still using it - there’s a brave new world out there!

Ciao from drippy, dismal New York. I surely picked the wrong week to visit, weatherwise. And also cultural events-wise - Shakespeare in the Park opens with the Scottish Play, featuring Liev Schrieber and my personal heroine Jennifer Ehle… the day after I leave. I am heartbroken. If I didn’t have a job interview (for a job I really do want) in Portland on Tuesday, I would absolutely change my ticket. Who doesn’t want to see Lizzy Bennet become Lady Macbeth? It’s like a twisted fantasy in which life at Pemberley goes horribly awry. But back to the weather: nothing but clouds and rain and sodden tennis shoes for the past three days. And my one mission (to find a new pair of jeans that fit, for cheap) failed completely. Sixteen pairs I tried on, and the only one I liked was missing its metal fastener. Had they been even cheaper, I would have bought them anyway and come up with a creative solution. But they were so Haute Designery that even with the massive Century 21 discount, they weren’t quite attractive enough. Sigh. Mr. Garter doesn’t understand what could possibly be so difficult about finding a decent pair of jeans.

Knitting-wise, progress is steady on the Viennese Shrug sleeve. I think I’ve finally found the perfect combination of ignoring and not ignoring the pattern. No more batwings, and although the sleeves may come out a little longer than the designer intended, I think I’ll like them that way. And I should have just the right amount of yarn (knock on wood). (Nonsequitur number two: We knock on wood so that the naughty spirits who live in the wood won’t hear us and thwart our plans and assumptions that all will be well. If there’s no wood nearby, you don’t have to knock.)

I’ve also taken on a deadline project, for actual money. I don’t think I ought to say much about it here, but it’s a sample scarf for a magazine that I’m knitting up for somebody else. Anyway, I get to use Rio de la Plata, a yarn a little outside my price range that I’ve coveted for many moons. Awesome yarn, and cash? Sign me up, baby. These days I’m all about the freelance work, which is why I’m spending valuable knitting time proofreading young adult novels (okay, that’s something I love doing, so the fact that it requires my full attention and precludes knitting doesn’t chafe too badly) and summarizing legal depositions. So how much the merrier if I can freelance knit? Rosalind is tapping her foot and still waiting for that crochet edging, though, and Conwy#2 still needs a foot.

But I think I may blow them both off and head to Macy’s. I’m not in New York too often these days, you know? And I do have a credit there from the return of a bridesmaid’s dress. Tomorrow I’m meeting Steph and Lisa for a yarn crawl to School Products and Habu, so it’s just as well if I save my real money. Just don’t be too surprised to see me in the same shabby old jeans for a few months. I promise to knit patches if they develop any holes that compromise my virtue.