Extreme Knitting Redhead: Oregon at last

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Oregon at last

At last, the knitting part of Oregon is finished.

Hoorah!

I've just trimmed one side of the steek along the front band. I know Alice Starmore says to trim it to 2 stitches but I'm not that brave and have opted for 3 stitches.

The beauty of steeking is that there aren't any ends to weave in afterwards. Just imagine if this had been knitted flat; there would have been 6 lots of ends to weave in on the body alone (2 x either side of the 2 front pieces and then 2 for the back) plus those for the sleeves but this way the ends get cut off and all you have to do is stitch the steeks flat.

However, there are still plenty of ends to weave in on the sleeves so I shall do them gradually over the next few days.

My long-suffering horses waiting for their feed last night.

Kizzy's saying "I do wish she'd just feed us and forget the photos!"

"I shall paw the ground to attract her attention and show my dismay at this disgraceful treatment".

I loved the colour of the setting sun on these trees last night. What a beautiful glow.

Mike took this for me this morning on the way back from his walk across the land.

It's looking towards the house from the bottom of Holm field.

Very arty!

I'm just off out for my run now. 7 miles at marathon pace. I was going to head across the fields but the snow is still very thick and there was a heavy frost last night so I'm opting for the lanes instead.

I've got 15 to do tomorrow too - the high mileage weeks are starting to kick in!

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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.