This is the only new project that I've cast on this month. I did so because Myra, a friend so close we called her family, told me this summer that she'd like some red cushions. A few weeks later we found out that the cancer she'd already fought for 2 years had spread to her brain. We knew our time with her was limited, and I was determined to give her the red cushions that she wanted.
I delivered those cushion covers on the 11th October. We spent a lovely afternoon chatting, and I was pleased to see that Myra was looking and feeling well.
One week later something went wrong. Maybe the tumour in her brain caused a bleed, we don't know for sure, but on Sunday 19th October Myra was admitted to hospital, then on the morning of Thursday 23rd October, she decided not to fight any longer.
So although this update is also going to discuss my progress on various WIPs, it is also dedicated to the memory of one of the most loving, yet practical, and down to earth woman I have ever had the privilege to know.
Myra has 2 daughters, I've mentioned them before. Gemma and Vikki are sisters in all but blood to us. Last year we completed the Race for Life in memory of my mam, and in hope for Myra:
We walked, and we ran, and we did it all while taking turns to push my sleeping 2 year old niece around with us. Myra was going through treatment for her cancer, and yet here she was:
This is in no way the best photo of Myra ever taken, but it demonstrates the kind of woman that she was. Supportive and strong, but not terribly sympathetic when we reached the end exhausted!
So Myra; thank you. Thank you for being there for us as children, for being there for my mam, for being there for Davie, and for having been a part of our lives.
And the rest of you, check your breasts! Myra could have been saved if she had attended her routine mammogram appointments. The tumour in her breast was tiny, but the damage it caused when it spread to her bones and her brain was devastating.
About those WIPs
I'm sure you can imagine, this week hasn't quite gone according to plan. For a start, most of it has been spent up in Newcastle instead of Sheffield. We honestly did not expect everything to happen so suddenly When my sister drove us up north on Wednesday, we expected to be returning home on Thursday, then going up again to visit this weekend, and possibly a few times more. So I only took 2 projects with me, plus a small spinning project.
On the plus side, this has forced me to concentrate on these 2 projects, with the result that I have finished something!
This is my Dazzle scarf. The pattern is by Louisa Harding, and is from her book "Knits from an English Rose". Mine is knit in King Cole Galaxy, in the colourway Ruby. I think it looks like a sort of elegant interpretation of something Dennis the Menace might wear.
I cast on this scarf on Christmas day 2013. Mostly because Kelly had just given me a Box of Joy as my Christmas present, and I wanted to knit with my new Karbonz immediately! Then I stupidly slipped on the ice while out running (training for a 10k race for life this year) and spent the next 6 weeks in cast with a broken wrist. Technically I could knit, but nothing more complicated than stocking stitch, and it was a slow process!
Dazzle was put away, and it remained in hibernation all summer. But now I shall be able to wear it on my holiday next week!
The other project that I took with me was Kellys socks. Over the last few days I've managed to finish the first sock, and begin working the gusset of the second sock:
I hope to get these finished in the next couple of days, because I want to concentrate on a bit of luxury knitting while I'm on holiday.
I'm off to Whitby for the Goth Weekend. I haven't been since the year my mam was diagnosed. I have no plans to pander to the gothic community, and I won't be dressing up in corsets and crinolines. But I will be spending my days enjoying the seaside, visiting the abbey, and sitting in quaint tea rooms with my knitting.
This is what I'm taking with me:
This is Lady Persephone Sock Yarn by Countess Ablaze, and the colourway is To His Intense Annoyance from the 12 Caesars collection. It is going to become socks for Stephen. Isn't it gorgeous?
This is all I have to say for now. I'll be back after my holiday by the seaside.
Look after yourselves my darlings.
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