Extreme Knitting Redhead: Armhole Steeks (rather belated!), a pb and another clue

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Armhole Steeks (rather belated!), a pb and another clue

I've just been so busy this week that I'm way behind on my posting.

The first thing that needs to be addressed is the Oregon cardigan. I finished the body last week and grafted the shoulders.

I was very lucky in that Marina had very kindly emailed me to let me know that she'd heard from someone else that the pattern repeats meant that the shoulders weren't going to match.

As I was already nearly at the shoulders and I'm not confident enough to make major changes I had to accept it. Well, that's what I thought at first. Then I hummed and haha'd and chewed it over for a while and realised that if I added a couple more rows and adjusted the sleeves accordingly then it wouldn't look too bad - see? I am irritated by the mismatch but at least my long hair will cover it!

See how brave I am these days?! Cutting the steek presents no panic at all so I thought I'd show it as I know some people who read my blog just can't understand the mechanics of steeks. There are loads of sites that mention steeks out there on the web and they really aren't scary once you've done one.

Here's the armhole before I started picking up the stitches for the sleeve. When you're picking up the stitches, you create your new stitch through the loop of the first stitch of the steek which was knit in the background colour. It's all clever stuff!

On the running front, I bettered my 10k pb last weekend at the Ashford 10k, knocking 10 seconds off it to finish in 54:20 by my watch (the results show 55:39 but I took 1 minute 19 seconds to get over the start line 'cos I'm a good girl and start near the back so I don't impede the faster runners).

I was very pleased with this as I've only just started doing speed training and this route had a hill in it whereas my previous pb was on a completely flat course. I can't celebrate too much though as my challenge is to get a further 4 minutes 20 seconds off my time to get to 50 minutes (or thereabouts with the wind behind me!). I've got the Tunbridge Wells 1/2 marathon tomorrow which is a tester to see where I'm up to for that distance. I won't be racing it as I've got another one in 2 weeks at which I want to push the pace a bit more so I'll use it as a mid-length training run.

2009 Extra Challenge - Clue number 3:

Paul and Sarah came to see us again last weekend and Paul and I had another go at what we're going to attempt and Sarah came with us. We went out and travelled 5.5 miles, my knitting came too and I survived in one piece.

The 3rd clue is that I call Paul "Captain" (and no, I'm not telling you what he calls me!).

I really want to reveal all but I can't yet as our "event" hasn't been finalised.

I do wish the economic climate would brighten as I suspect fund-raising is going to be challenging, never mind what we're going to do!

2 comments:

Shan said...: Oh it looks so pretty!

And I've never understood why people make such a big deal about steeking - it's not as if anybody's asking you to cut your 100% mercerised cotton!

But then I come from a sewing background and am used to cutting fabric of all sorts. Knitting is fabric!; February 15, 2009 at 6:56:00 PM PST
beanz said...: I love that knitting.

You're not doing something mad like canoing are you?; February 20, 2009 at 2:14:00 AM PST

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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.