Extreme Knitting Redhead: Just a quickie

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Just a quickie

I wanted to knit a little jumper for my dentist's new baby boy as a thank you to him because he's sponsored my marathon running for the last 3 years. I chose this pattern from Simply Baby and ordered the yarn 4 weeks ago. 2 days after I placed the order I received 1 of the colours but not the other so I phoned to check when it would be in (even though their stock level showed as high on their website!) and was told it would be about a week.

No worries I thought as my next appointment wasn't until today. At the beginning of last week I still hadn't received it so I phoned again to be told that it would be another 2 weeks. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. I explained that I really needed it now as I had to knit it for this week. Thankfully they had another shade of green in stock so they despatched it and I received it on Friday. I didn't get much done at the weekend so I really had to motor a bit on Monday to get it done. Good job it was teeny-weeny!

The yarn I used was Debbie Bliss 'Cathay', a blend of cotton, silk and viscose and I really didn't like it at all, sorry Debbie. It was way too slippery and as with so many cottons it split like mad. Not one to add to my list of favourites.

1 comment:

Marina said...: Not receiving yarn in a timely manner is irritating, but at least, you finished it on time. It looks lovely. Hope the dentist visit went well!; September 12, 2008 at 2:47:00 AM PDT

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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.