Extreme Knitting Redhead: Holey voley!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Holey voley!

Sunday's run was tough and those hills hadn't got any smaller but the good news is that I ran the whole 20 miles in 4 hours, just like last week. I was very pleased as the only other time I've done this route I was so tired that I had to walk the last 2 miles and arrived home teary and downtrodden in 4.5 hours!

Yesterday I did a good session of pyramid intervals @ 8:21 minute miling (pyramid intervals are so called because you increase the distance of each interval and then decrease back down to the starting distance; eg I ran intervals of .3, .4, .5, .6, .5 .4, .3 miles with 1.5 minute slower recoveries inbetween ) and was very pleased with the way my legs responded after such a tough run on Sunday.

Just look at this sweet little vole.

We were just pottering around in the front garden when Mike spotted her sitting right in front of him.

She was so busy eating that she paid no attention to us which suggested that she was probably looking for food for her family.

It always feels like an honour when a wild creature allows us to have an insight into their world.

Mike's niece Emma is taking ballet lessons and she needs a tutu for the summer show. As Sharon, my sister-in-law, doesn't sew she asked if I'd make it for her.

I haven't done much sewing for a while, except for making household things such as curtains and cushions, so it will be an interesting challenge.

I'm not looking forward to that froth of net!

I've crocheted more flowers and think I've got enough now. I quite like this arrangement but need to think about how I join them.

I spent ages last night experimenting with leaves but couldn't get just what I wanted using any of the patterns I have so I'll have to make up my own.

I like the idea of sinuous stems winding across the cushion as I think it needs some splashes of green to liven up the reds.

As for the background I'm thinking about a sort of freeform approach of just following the shapes. I might join the flower motifs where they touch or overlap and then work as one would with tesserae in mosaics using the technique known as 'Opus Vermiculatum' where you form an outline around a shape.

1 comment:

Shan said...: Oh I love that cushion so, so much! Also the vole is wonderful...so fat and cute!; March 14, 2012 at 7:27:00 PM 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.