I need to cache about 100 different selections for animating. The following is sample code. Is there a syntax problem in the second sample? If this isn't the way to cache selections, it's certainly the most popular on the interwebs. So, what am I missing?

note: p in the $.path.bezier(p) below is a correctly declared object passed to jQuery.path.bezier (awesome animation library, by the way)

This works

    $(document).ready(function() {
        animate1();
        animate2();
    })
    function animate1() {
        $('#image1').animate({ path: new $.path.bezier(p) }, 3000);
        setTimeout("animate1()", 3000);
    }
    function animate2() {
        $('#image2').animate({ path: new $.path.bezier(p) }, 3000);
        setTimeout("animate2()", 3000);
    }

This doesn't work

    var $one = $('#image1'); //problem with syntax here??
    var $two = $('#image2');
    $(document).ready(function() {
        animate1();
        animate2();
    })
    function animate1() {
        $one.animate({ path: new $.path.bezier(p) }, 3000);
        setTimeout("animate1()", 3000);
    }
    function animate2() {
        $two.animate({ path: new $.path.bezier(p) }, 3000);
        setTimeout("animate2()", 3000);
    }