Extreme Knitting Redhead: A drop of Guinness and some crochet

Thursday, May 8, 2008

A drop of Guinness and some crochet

Amarilis from Guinness World Records has just sent me some photos from the London Marathon and I love this one at the finish. That's Amarilis on the left and Scott on the right. He no longer works for them full time as he's pursuing his dream of becoming an actor. He still pops along to special events though and it was lovely to see him again.

I like seeing all the detritus in the background - the almost empty wagons that held the runners' kit bags, the discarded space blankets, the Union flag flying. See how easy it is to forget the pain and effort of the event?!

I've started on the first sleeve for Autumn Rose but there's not much point in showing that so here's something else I'm working on. It's one of many crocheted flowers to cover a lampshade. I'm using a pattern from the book Vintage Crochet which I bought with some gift vouchers I received for Christmas.

There are several projects that I want to do (including a design by Nicki from Laughing Hens. I have a lamp in my office with a plain cream shade and the flowers will really brighten it up. Each flower measures about 4.5" across which is larger than the pattern in the book but I'm just using yarn from my stash. In fact, it's a wool/cotton yarn from a Jean Moss kit that I abandoned years ago because I didn't like the pattern so at least I'm using some of it up. The colour variations sadly don't show up in the photo - there are 3 shades of taupe/beige, an olive green and a deep rust.

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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.