Extreme Knitting Redhead: Good-bye and good luck

Friday, October 30, 2009

Good-bye and good luck

Last week we said good-bye to our lovely Anna who's gone to start a new job leading her very own Team.

We've worked together for 9 months now and have had great fun as well as producing good work and I was very sorry to see her go.

I've never worked anywhere before where staff are employed on 'Seasonal' contracts and it's very strange to be saying good-bye to lots of people all at the same time. I have 2 more staff to say good-bye to over the next 7 weeks so I'd better get knitting!

I felt the only way to wrap the scarf was as a triangle and it seemed to work out OK. Here she is modelling it on the hip as in the photo in the book.

She's a very stylish young lady and I know she will wear it in her own unique way.

1 comment:

Unknown said...: Hi Susie - seen your blog - looking forward to your news.
We shall be back in England from 25th November until the new year. i gave you our English address.

Love G; November 7, 2009 at 3:06:00 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.