SubLYNNminal Healing

Background 

In December 2005, my cousin Lynn was diagnosed with Stage I DCIS.  She had a lumpectomy and radiation.  She is a breast cancer survivor.  However, in December of 2007 her breast cancer returned - Stage III (there’s lots of medical terminology associated with exactly what kind of breast cancer it is, but I’lll let you read about it on her blog).  She had a double mastectomy with reconstructive surgery on January 29, 2008. 

 She is doing well, and will begin chemotherapy soon.  It will be a long, tiring road but she is a strong woman with much Faith and a loving set of family and friends behind her.

SubLYNNminal Healing

I want to do something to help my dear cousin and others with cancer.  Since I am a knitter, I thought what a better way of helping than to knit chemo caps and tit bits for Lynn and other cancer patients.   My thoughts flowed from there.  What about some kind of contest?  Great idea, says I.  So, here’s what I decided to do.

I am having a contest for people knit chemo caps and/or tit bits for my cousin Lynn and/or Winchester Medical Center (the hospital where she is having her treatment).   You can decide if you want to knit for Lynn, the Medical Center, or both (just put a card with whatever you knit so I know where to send it).  And, since I know of no better way to provide the particulars, they are listed below:

• Registration will go from today, 25 February 2008 through Monday, March 10, 2008.
• Leave me a comment on this post if you want to register.
• Everyone who registers (even if you don’t knit anything) will be entered into a drawing for a set of  my handmade stitch markers using vintage beads.
• The contest will begin on Tuesday, March 11, 2008.  All items will need to be mailed to me with a postmark no later than 22 April 2008.  It will help if you send me an email stating that the items are in the mail so I can look for them.  Once all items are received I will put all of the names in a hat (yes, really low tech) and let my son G pick out winners for prizes.
• For every hat/set of tit bits you complete and mail to me, your name will be entered into a drawing.  There will be 4-5 “regular” prizes (depending on number of entries - more if there are lots of people who sign up and send in stuff), including yarn (such as Mountain Colors, Shaeffer Anne, or whatever else I pull out of the stash), stitch markers, or whatever else I can come up with; in addition, there will be a GRAND PRIZE drawing that will be a gift basket filled with goodies… including… hold on to your hats folks…  a hank of WOLLMEISE from my stash (heck, it’s my only hank of Wollmeise, but I’m more than willing to give it up to entice people to knit for my cousin and the Medical Center) as well as any other goodies (Girl Scout Thin Mints anyone???) I can find to put in there.

Now for some additional information:

• If you knit for Lynn, she likes red, green, blue, pink, and black.  She is not a fan of white.  Any color is acceptable for the hospital, as well as any size (remember, cancer patients come in all shapes and sizes).
• For any chemo cap or set of tit bits, softness is key.  Machine washable would be good as well. 
• Lynn’s head circumference is 24″.  (Sorry for advertising the size of your head Lynn, but it is an important piece of information.
• Here is the pattern for tit bits.
• Hat pattern is your choice.

I’m sure that there is a lot of information I am leaving out.  I’ve never done this before, so there is a learning curve.  Many thanks to Kemtee for making a great button.  Please feel free to take the button and put it on your blog.  Tell your friends; heck, tell your enemies, I don’t care!  What I do care about is doing something positive and sending lots of positive energy her way. 

Now, to start things off, here are pictures of two chemo caps that I have made for Lynn.

Pattern:  Pi Topper Chemo Cap
Needles:  Susan Bates US 7 16″ Circular, Bamboo US 7 DPNs, set of 4
Yarn:       Hat - Arcadia Cotton/Angora blend, 154 yards, Color 4204
                 Brim - Cascade Cotton Rich, 80 yards (not all used), Color 2151
Notes:    I ran out of yarn for the hat, so I had to switch an duse the Cascade Cotton Rich for the brim.  It’s a little thicker, but makes a nice contrast with the hat.  It’s hard to tell from the photo (self portrait skills are lacking), but it turned out really nice.  I don’t know if you can see the pin on the side, but it’s one of my Grandmother Shannon’s broaches.   

Pattern:  Chevron Hat
Needles:  Plymouth US 9 16″ circular, Bamboo US 9 DPNs, set of 4
Yarn:       Cascade Cotton Rich, 80 yards/skein, Color 4204
Notes:     I ended up using just about 2 skeins for this.  The photo does not do the pattern justice.  Also, I have not washed nor blocked this yet, so I think it will look even better once that has been done.  Again, self portrait skills - well, let’s just say I won’t quit my day job.

Thank you very, very much for considering helping my cousin and the folks at Winchester Medical Center.