Extreme Knitting Redhead: I Knit London, Wendy & a Glorious Sunset

Monday, February 18, 2008

I Knit London, Wendy & a Glorious Sunset

This morning I had a lovely email from Gerard at I Knit London. I'd emailed him to ask if he'd publicise my running/knitting stuff at FLM (London marathon) and he has very kindly agreed to put something about it in his weekly newsletter. I'm hoping to get to meet him this year at the Stitch'n'Bitch in September as I missed him at FLM last year where he was publicising the charity Water Aid. You may remember they organised a wonderful knitted river to draw attention to the problems of lack of clean water in 3rd world countries.

Next up was a very helpful email from Wendy from Wendy Knits I'd left a comment on her blog asking for advice about my high instep/heel problem and I was thrilled that she'd taken the time to reply to me. She agreed that the best way would be to increase the length of the heel section then lose the extra stitches after the turn. I've now ripped right back to the start so will be casting on again tomorrow. Thanks Wendy, you're a star!

How did we manage without the internet?!

Finally, we had the most glorious sunset this evening so I tried to capture some of its beauty. Everywhere was bathed in a pinky amber glow and it looked so lovely.

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.