Extreme Knitting Redhead: Travelling

Monday, July 14, 2014

Travelling

There's been a lot of travelling hither and thither over the past few days and I shall have to start the write-ups tomorrow as I'm weary now.

First there was coach trip to the beautiful Wisley gardens, home of the Royal Horticultural Society, with our village Horticultural Society.

With a journey of some 1.75 hours each way it was an ideal opportunity to have a go at replicating the crocheted doily from my last post so I took a small ball of 4ply acrylic and my hook and kept myself busy experimenting.

Then there was a trip to Tate Britain in London to see the British Folk Art exhibition.

That involved a train journey and so this time I took my prototype mandala for reference and had a go at replicating it using some bits of Rowan Cotton Glace and a 2mm hook. This is as far as I got and was just starting to play around with an idea for an overlay crochet border.

As you might have noticed my mandalas are sitting in an upturned stetson on the small table on the train.

Mike wanted me to note that it's actually HIS stetson which he'd allowed me to borrow for the day. So here you can see whose head it was on and don't they say that possession is 9 points of the law? I love hats and think it completes my outfit perfectly so he should stop being a meany and share!

Then of course there's Nellie who is now complete after much faffing around to get her trunk just right. Here's a teaser without her eyes and ears (she's gorgeous btw).

The full stories will appear over the next few days, although I do have another trip into London on Wednesday for a meeting……………..

2 comments:

Holly said...: I love the colours on your mandal!; July 15, 2014 at 4:22:00 AM PDT
Susie Hewer said...: Thanks Holly. It's still not quite finished as I can't decide on the edging!; July 15, 2014 at 5:14:00 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.