Extreme Knitting Redhead: A Scarf, a Shawl and Some Snug hands

Sunday, February 7, 2010

A Scarf, a Shawl and Some Snug hands

As Mike is busy working today I can't get him to take photos of me wearing them so I've just taken these interim snaps!

The shawl and matching mitts are Andrea's Shawl and Mitts by that talented designer Kirsten Kapur, except they aren't Andrea's, they're mine!

I'm going to add some purple amethyst chips and some green glass beads dotted along the bottom of the patterned areas for a bit of sparkle amongst the hairy mohair.

The purple yarn I've used has been sitting in my stash for years so it was about time I found a use for it. I finished them just in time to nip into London a couple of weeks ago and I wore them with my green cord jacket. I was very pleased with the admiring glances they elicited.

The scarf, which you can't see properly is one of my favourite stash-busting-using-up-bits type to which I have added some flowers I made using my old Crazy Daisy flower maker.

I left a generous length of yarn at each end of the scarf so that I could plait it into sections. Then I made some crocheted corkscrews of differing lengths and added them inbetween to get a luxurious effect. It will show up better when I get Mike to take a photo of me wearing it.

On the running front I've had to take this week off as my body feels as if it's realigning itself after the accident. I've done lots of stretching to help it but my neck, shoulder and right leg are still sore and stiff, plus I've got a dull ache in my lower back. I'm hoping that a session with a Physiotherapist will sort ti out for me. I was doing well with my marathon schedule before so I'm not going to panic - well not just yet!!!

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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.