Thursday, October 09, 2003

It's Thursday afternoon, but sort of like Friday, because it's a long weekend in Taiwan. Tomorrow is Double Ten Day (tenth day of the tenth month), the national day of the Republic of China. Here is a little info on the background of the holiday. We were thinking of going to a city in the south for the weekend, but we left the planning too late. Oh well. Maybe we'll make it to the local parade this year. Last year we went to see it at around ten in the morning only to find out that it had started around 6:30 a.m. In the bad old days, Double Ten Day was a much bigger, louder celebration here, with a full-scale military parade (tanks, guns, etc.). In 2000, the government changed, and Chiang Kai-shek is mostly regarded as the brutal dictator that he was. The generalissimo's face is still on most of the island's coins, though; the beloved Dr. Sun Yat-sen is on the most common note: the hundred-dollar bill.

The sweater I've begun is a top-down raglan, using the Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan Sweater pattern. I've started it in a bulky red yarn, but I don't have enough red for the whole thing, and for some reason that particular shade is no longer available at the shop where I bought it. I've decided this is an opportunity for creativity! I'm just going to choose some other colours that I like and throw them in here and there. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm hoping it won't take me too long (at 3.5 st./inch, it shouldn't). I wasted a bit of time while working on it last night, sadly; I was watching TV and knitting around and around, and then realized, d'oh! I'd been increasing before and after every marker for four straight rounds. Oops. So if I can remember to increase only every second round, I should be able to fly through it. In any case, I won't need a sweater for a month or so. (I wish I did. I love autumn, and I miss it.)

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