Coping Mechanisms

Last weekend, while trying to distract myself from the thought of having to put Joyko to sleep, I translated and started knitting Marina Klin's Car Booties pattern. The link on Ravelry had gone nowhere for ages, so I was delighted when it finally connected to странамастеров.ru. The Ravelry page indicates the pattern is available in Russian and in English, but I couldn't find an English version anywhere. This really isn't a problem for me since I read Russian as well as a variety of other Slavic languages. However, since I'm a professional translator and editor, I thought it would be nice to translate it for others. Since Marina offered it for free, written with the beginning knitter in mind, I'm doing the same. I added some of my own notes to make it as clear as possible.

Thanks to Marina, I now understand how to do an invisible increase. It was kind of a cross between a "well, duh" moment and light-bulb moment (I don't want to say it was an epiphany) for me.

The yarn is a combination of Dalegarn's Heilo and Falk. I'm not crazy about the color combination, but Vova likes it. I used buttons for the wheels instead of crocheting them. I also did not sew down the roll-brim edge.
Without further ado, here's the pattern:

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
k - knit
p - purl
sl - slip
k2tog - knit 2 together
p2tog - purl 2 together
MC - main color
CC - contrast color
garter stitch - knit every row
stockinette stitch - alternate one row of knit stitches with one row of purl stitches

1. Car booties Master Class

2. Cast on 40 stitches in the main color and knit the sole as described in “Doggie Booties” Master Class
  From “Doggie Booties” – Begin knitting at the middle of the toe. The toe is knitted in garter stitch. Cast on 40 stitches. 1st and 2nd rows - knit all stitches. Starting with the 3rd row, add 4 stitches (1 on each end and 2 in the middle) on every other row for 4 rows. Add the new stitch by picking up the bar between two stitches. Twist the bar before knitting to prevent getting a hole and to keep the fabric smooth.

  3rd row –sl1, make 1, k 18, make 1, k 2, make 1, k 18, make 1, 1 selvedge stitch
  4th row – knit all stitches
  5th row – sl1, k 1, make 1, k 18, make 1, k 4, make 1, k 18, make 1, k 1, sl1
  6th row – knit all stitches
  7th row – sl1, k 2, make 1, k 18, make 1, k 6, make 1, k 18, make 1, k 2, sl1
  8th row –  knit all stitches
  9th row – sl1, k 3, make 1, k 18, make 1, k 8, make 1, k 18, make 1, k 3, sl1
  Rows 10, 11, and 12 – knit all stitches.
  A total of 16 stitches have been added.
  There are now 56 stitches on the needles.
  The sole is ready.

3. Join a contrast color and knit 6 rows of garter stitch (knit all rows). Knit another 8 rows of garter stitch in the main color.

4. Divide all stitches into 3 parts (23, 10, 23)
Details: sl1, k21, k2tog, k8, k2tog. Turn work to wrong side. Continue to knit the middle of the bootie: sl1, k8, p2tog.

5. So that the lines of decreases stay pretty and even, k2tog on the right side and p2tog on the wrong side. Turn the stitches as necessary so that they are not twisted after knitting.

6. Turn the work again – sl1, k8, k2tog. Continue knitting this way, decreasing stitches until there are 13 stitches left on the sides. There are 36 stitches total (10 in the middle and 13 on each side). Knit to the end of the row (13 stitches, which are left on the left needle). Break MC yarn, join CC yarn.

7. This is now the beginning of the knitting that resulted from the wrong side of the work. Begin purling CC: sl1, p12. Join a strand of white and begin knitting the “windshield” of the car. Leave CC for now.

8. Knit the windshield across the next 10 stitches. Knit 10 rows of garter stitch (here the garter stitch is purled every row). Now we decrease. Decrease the first stitch of each row on the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th rows. There are 6 stitches left in the windshield. Break the white yarn.

9. Continue knitting in CC. The first 13 stitches of the row have already been knitted (worked on the wrong side). Pick up and purl 7 stitches from the side part of the windshield, p6 on the top of the windshield, pick up and purl7 stitches on the other side of the windshield, purl the remaining 13 stitches.

10. Knit another 10 rows in Stockinette stitch.

Skipped the part about crocheting the wheels.

20. When sewing up, sew vertically only to the main color.

21. Run a line of reenforcing stitches around the top of the main color. If you do not reenforce it, the sock will constantly twist during wear.

22. Continue sewing up the bootie.

23. You can put a driver in the car, if you like.

No One Will Write to the Colonel Anymore

This morning, we went to an appointment we really did not want to keep. Last Friday, we found out that Joyko's kidneys were failing. Our vet told us that he would die in a few weeks if we did nothing. She told us there was no guarantee even if we took steps to treat him. Vova called a friend of his in Germany who is a vet for a second opinion. His friend agreed with everything our vet had told us, but added that kidney failure makes the dog miserable and that it would only get worse.

We've known for some time that we would most likely face the need to put our beloved Cocker Spaniel to sleep. Vova and I both had hoped and dreaded that we would wake up one morning to find he had passed in his sleep. For about the last two months, Joyko had been having accidents in the house, no matter how often we took him outside. This is not a good sign in a dog as well house-trained as Joyko. We moved his bed and food and water bowls to the sun porch so that it would be easier to clean up the puddles of pee. He seemed to be drinking a lot more water than usual. Then, one morning, I found him lying in vomit in his bed. These symptoms spurred last Friday's visit to the vet. They also sparked many a conversation between us about how we would know when we would need to put him down. We also talked to our friend Ma Beagle about it. She noted that a lot of people oppose euthanasia for pets because they say it's playing God. She pointed out that, on the other hand, no one considers it playing God when we give them medicine or perform surgery to prolong their lives. 

We have all these euphemisms:  "put down," "put to sleep," even the technical term "euthanize" avoids directly confronting the fact that one is killing one's pet. During one of our conversations, Vova asked me, "If it's not callous for pets, then why is it callous for humans?" Aside from the fact that some believe it's not callous for humans, the answer is simple. Pets are like children that never grow up. We make all their choices for them. They do not choose what they eat, whether or not they exercise, what kind of bed they sleep on, etc. We owe it to them to make good choices on their behalf. That doesn't seem like a big deal when we feed them high-quality food, buy them temperpedic beds, give them regular baths, or take them on daily walks. Knowing when life becomes a burden for them is the hard part. Having the strength to relieve them of that burden is the big deal. Knowing that Joyko did not have long left and that those days would be increasingly miserable for him did not make our decision any easier. He still loved us and wanted to be with us, even though he didn't wag his tail anymore when we petted him. I think he held onto to life because he loved us so much. What we did for him today was take his burden from him. We essentially said to him, "We know you love us, but you don't have to do this anymore. We love you so much that we won't let you do this anymore."

The entire staff at the veterinary clinic was very kind. Ma Beagle went with us to hold our hands. The patient advocate explained that the doctor would give Joyko a pre-sedative shot, which would sting a little like when we get a shot. Then, once he was sleepy, the doctor would give him the euthanasia injection. She asked if we wanted to stay with him during the whole procedure and we said we did. Then the doctor and technician came in. He let out a little yelp when they injected the sedative. The doctor said it would take about ten minutes for it to take effect. She and the tech left the room then. They had barely closed the door behind them when it was clear that the sedative was already working. He began to stagger and stumble. He went behind my chair and lay down. I petted him until his breathing sounded strange. His nose was pressed against the wall, so I moved the chair and gently moved him away from the wall. He sounded okay again after that. We took his collar off and petted him some more. Then the doctor and the tech came back in. They said it was good that the sedative had started working so quickly. They lifted him up onto the metal table, which was covered in a thick, torn blanket. The doctor was not able to find a good vein in his rear leg, so she switched to one of his front legs. It seemed to me that he had already stopped breathing by the time she finished giving him the injection. I was certain he had by the time she put on a stethoscope to check for a heartbeat. She announced that he had passed then told us we could stay in the room with him as long we wanted. She said the muscles would begin to relax, which might result in the body spontaneously urinating, defecating, or exhaling. He passed so peacefully and so quickly that I'm certain he was ready to go. I'm sure we did the right thing, even though it hurt us so much. I'm also convinced that the burden of our grief is worth the suffering we took from him.

They let us keep the blanket that was on the table. We used it to lift him into a box we had brought from home. Ma Beagle helped us carry him out to the car. The drive home seemed very long.

We dug him a grave next his buddy, Aristotle the Cat. We laid him in his grave with the blanket from the vet's office and covered him with a towel we used to use to dry him after baths. We filled in the grave, then covered it with heavy rocks so that none of the wildlife would dig him up.

Joyko was a dog of good humor as well as a good sense of humor. Ma Beagle and her family nicknamed him "the Colonel" after the dog in the movie The Aristocats. This is my last love letter to him.