Extreme Knitting Redhead: David's off again!

Friday, October 10, 2014

David's off again!

You may remember David, from across the pond in the USA, who I wrote about last year, Well he's doing something even more amazing this year - he's running the New York marathon whilst knitting but not with needles but with his fingers.

Yes, you did read that correctly, with his fingers. How awesome is that!

The reason he has to adopt this method is that for reasons of security he has only been allowed to take part and knit as long as he abides by these restrictions: he can't use knitting needles or carry any tools such as scissors, he isn't allowed to carry his yarn around his waist or in a bag and he can't wear any clothing that obscures his body.

Undeterred, David has devised his own cunning plan to achieve his dream of taking part in the NYC marathon (and I am soooooo jealous 'cos it's always been my dream to run it one day!), sponsored by Lion Brand.

I actually chose to use Lion Brand Hometown USA for my crochet antics at the London marathon earlier this year. I hadn't seen it before but deramores generously donated the yarn for me to use as I fell in love with the fantastic range of bright colours. The 2 lap blankets I made out of the crochet chain were so soft and were well liked by the recipients.

Even better, he is again supporting an Alzheimer's charity. In his own words:

"I'll wear all of the yarn that I use. The start of the NYC marathon is cold. A knit hat and scarf, of normal length, is a common sight. So I plan to knit up some warmness to wear at the start and then unravel them and pull the yarn from an existing knit item to make an entirely new knit item. I love the metaphor. What better way to draw attention to Alzheimer's than making something out of an unraveling hat."

Isn't that a brilliant idea? Even better, he's linked the concept of unravelling the yarn as a metaphor of those whose memories are unravelling.

You can read about his training etc here on his website where you'll also find a link to his sponsorship page.

Here he is with a scarf he has finger-knitted on one of his training runs.

As he hasn't got the pressure of going for a Guinness World Record this time he's going to try and beat his previous best time for a marathon (and he's a speedy runner too). This would be impressive if he was just running but add in the knitting and it's awesome! I can't wait to see how he gets on.

I'll be catching up with David soon to see how he got on. In the meantime we did a short Q & A session together which you can read here on the Lion Brand blog.

This weekend is pretty exciting here as this morning I'm off out to run marathon number 37 and on Sunday I'm off to the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace. I'll write about my adventures after the weekend.

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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.