My First Sweater...or, The Joy is Short-Lived

So I got this GREAT yarn at the Rhinebeck festival, and the lady who owned the business also gave me a pattern of a sweater I saw in her booth. It looked a little, well, sparse on paper. Like I might need to take a class or something to understand it. So I spent a whopping $2.65 on some nasty yarn to knit a mini-version of the sweater - smaller needles, 1/3 stitching in all directions...
I don't think it turned out bad at all. I wanted my most pliable cat, Otis, to pose in it, but he would have none of that. Smart cat. It's more of a tunic shaping, so there's nothing complicated about it. But I'd like to have more instruction on the seams, so maybe I'll try another mini-test-sweater with another pattern. Not that I expect perfection, mind you - just don't want TOO much crap going on.

On another note...Sigh...SIGH...

This is my new washer. It is awesome. I had a smile on my face when I told Joe I was going to wash clothes (for the first time in 2 weeks at home). And then I put the load in the dryer. I don't know if the dryer was intimidated by Ms Neptune or if it was sad from the loss of its faithful companion of over 10 years. But I've had the same load in the dryer for about 2 hours now, and nothing's happening. I'm so very, very sad. Mostly because we'd hoped to wait a while before plunking down the cash for another appliance. And now, even if I order it tomorrow, it will probably be another 2 weeks - even for pickup. I'm so very, very sad.

EDITED (20 minutes later) to add: HA! AHA! I freakin' FIXED it! ME! The liberal arts major! As opposed to the Tech grad! BWAHAHA! There is joy in Mudville! I have a dryer again! Yay! Yay me! Yay to my clothes! Yay to our checking account! Yay!