Extreme Knitting Redhead: RED May & Weel Riggit unmodelled

Friday, May 17, 2019

RED May & Weel Riggit unmodelled

Having reached the halfway point of RED May I realised that I haven't even written about it! It's all about doing some sort of physical activity of at least 25 minutes or running/walking for 5k each day - Run Every Day = RED.

This was Day 1 on an out-and-back route through the village.

Day 6 brought me closer to getting below 30 minutes (my 5k pb is 26 minutes, set a long, long time ago!).

For Day 7 I decided to have a go at upping my pace a bit so chose to use the treadmill and look what happened:

Then Day 9 I had another go and knocked nearly a minute off:

Of course the times were much slower on the day after each of the 2 marathons I've done this month!

Yesterday I decided to have a go at one of my hilly circuits and chose to do the harder route with the longer uphill sections. I usually complete this in around 65-70 minutes so this was a complete surprise:

So this morning I thought I'd try it the other way round which usually takes 60 - 65 minutes:

I was only slightly disappointed because it's still below 60 minutes but not much faster than yesterday. Then I realised that my asthma and hayfever are pretty grotty to day so perhaps that's why. The good thing is that I can see and feel a difference so it's well worth pursuing.

Weel Riggit

My Weel Riggit pullover is finally dry, which took forever, and I was hoping to do some fun outdoor shots of it today but it's raining so that will have to wait. I am absolutely delighted with it and it fits just perfectly.

Pre-blocking

Pinned out and drying very slowly. I used the trick of sticking a plate in the neckline to keep it nicely stretched which has worked a treat

What did I do differently?

I knit size 2 using 4.5 mm needles for the body as I really didn't like the fabric produced using 5mm needles. For the ribbed edges I used 4mm needles and for the arms I used 4mm for the rib, then 4.5mm until the end of the increases so I got a closer fit (I don't like baggy sleeves in heavy weight yarn) and then swapped to 5mm needles for the remainder of the sleeves.

I knit the sleeves a bit longer than stated because I wanted the option to turn up the cuffs or have then covering part of my hands in colder weather which feels nice when my hands are especially arthritic.

I'll save my styling photos until the weather brightens up again as I want to do some fun shots to cheer up Kate!

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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.