Changing Horizon

Lunar eclipse on the 21st

Hubby and I stood outside on our terrace and watched the moon turn from a bright white oval to crimson to a sliver of blue last Thursday. The lunar eclipse was breathtaking. I wish I could capture the images better or show how clear the sky was. We didn't stay the whole 50 minutes, it was just too cold.

I started on my father's cabled vest from Ondori's Men's Knit Design. It is being knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted yarn, which is perfect for him, because it is machine washable. I really like that it is hand dyed, so there are natural color gradations that show up as you knit. I am knitting this on size 7 needles (for the bottom ribbing) and size 8 for the rest. It is so important to knit a swatch and make sure you reach the correct gauge specified in the pattern. For instance if I had blindly followed the recommendation of needle conversion on the ABS site and not swatched, I would have used a size 4 needle and the vest would have been way too small. So I made sure that 22 stitches at 24 rows in pattern equaled 10 cm, in this case a size 8 needle for me.


I really like Japanese knitting books like the Ondori's Men's Knit Design and others I have bought, because the charts are graphical. In the back, they reference all the symbols they use the charts, so you know you are doing a ssk and not a k2tog. It makes knitting in another language, pretty breezy. After a while, you recognize the symbols, since they are standard, and you can easily anticipate what each project would entail.


I felt I had to show this pink moth orchid that my friend Wen gave me as a house warming present. So far 7 flowers have bloomed and it looks quite happy. It was a much needed addition, since none of my orchids from last year have bloomed. I think next year I will start tinkering with plant grow lights and adjusting the temperatures to 10 degrees below the daytime.

Way too busy this year to give them that extra attention. I am in the final week of the changeover from Hello Bank to our new entity. So, I can only hope that the new owners of our division will be kind to us.