Extreme Knitting Redhead: Thank you Gerard

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Thank you Gerard

A while ago I wrote to several leading yarn suppliers to ask if they'd provide me with some yarn for my latest venture. No response. No surprise really as I've never had a response in the past either!

Doing these stunts can be expensive (the marathon entrance fees, shoes, travel etc etc all mount up) and I have been indebted in the past to my local suppliers for stepping up to the mark and helping me out with yarn (Laughing Hens & Knitonthenet in 2007 and Kangaroo in 2009).

Anyway I contacted Gerard at iKnit to see if he had any useful contacts for me and instead of just sending me a list he very kindly offered to donate the yarn I need from his shop. What a star! Although we've spoken many times on-line I've never actually met Gerard in person so I'm hoping to use this as a good excuse for a trip into London to visit his shop.

1 comment:

Helegant said...: Thanks Red; I now feel inclined to visit chez Gerard for my next project. Support for those who support others is always good - it makes the world go round.; April 12, 2010 at 10:57:00 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.