Extreme Knitting Redhead: Bits and bobs

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Bits and bobs

I have done lots of crafting in the last few months, all undocumented I'm afraid but I can show a couple of things:

Mike's cardigan aka Cable central! As the body is knitted flat, all in one go, it was really heavy by the time I'd finished. The sleeves are done so I just have to do the buttonband and collar and I'm afraid I'm procrastinating with that as someone mentioned that each row takes about 40 minutes - OMG!

So I've been experimenting with some more advanced, but simple enough for a beginner, Macrame and produced my first small hanging:

It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the knots but I finally relaxed into it and enjoyed it. The video I was following was very good, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVwjAswyfaY and it was easy to pause it whilst I copied the tutorial. It's mounted on a stick of cinnamon but you could equally use a driftwood or piece of dowel.

Mike commented that it's just another yarn hoarding opportunity (he's not wrong!).

I'm deliberately not knitting anything for my self until I've finished Mike's cardigan as I'm too easily distracted but I do have a few things waiting in the wings with this as my first 'me' project:

It's 'Floatside' by wool and pine and I've chosen a delicate pale green/turquoise Fyberspates yarn. I was impressed by how it was posted in a shrink wrap which made the package much smaller and easier to fit through a letterbox:

It soon went back to its normal size when I removed the packing.

I really, really, want to cast-on. I can resist, I can resist - repeat!!!

Mrs Duck made her usual nest in her favourite pot, digging out any plants in her way! She laid 10 eggs and sat on them for 2 weeks before the Rooks/Crows/Magpies raided her nest one morning when she was having her breakfast. Her cries of distress were heart-breaking, poor love:

There were 2 more attempts from other ducks but they didn't go well either so I'm not sure we're going to have any ducklings this year.

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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.