After much cussing (and I do mean a LOT of cussing!), My January Chemo Cap is finished (yea, it’s way late).  It’s only as late as it is because I was 80% done with a different hat and I decided it was entirely to sucky to finish.  So, I frogged and went to work on another.

Well, that one proved to have it’s own challenges.  I ended up with Coronet from Knitty.  The band around the bottom is knit horizontally, then grafted together, and stitches are picked up along one edge to knit the body.  That all sounds easy, and until this project, I’ve enjoyed doing the Kitchener Stitch.  However, that all changed here.

 I finished the band, and I went to graft away.  I put the stitches from my provisional cast onedge onto a needle, untwisting the twisty stitches.  I grabbed my tapestry needle, and grafted away.  What I ended up with was, well, sucky.  So, I ripped out the graft, and tried fixing it.  I tried all sorts of things.  I spend DAYS working on this silly graft.  I ripped the cast on edge back a half patter repeat, I knitted the same amount back on the other edge, nothing worked.

Finally, I found a link to an alternate method of doing a Kitchener stitch.  I can’t seem to find it now, but the essence of it was to knit to the point you are ready to graft, then switch to an alternate color, and knit in pattern for a few more rounds (this was done for the toe of a sock).  Then you line up the stitches as you want the graft to look, and use the stitches in the contrasting color to guide the direction that your graft yarn should follow.  Once the grafting is done, simply rip out the contrasting color from the back, and fix any tension issues with the graft.  This worked very well for me and the graft looks great, even with purl stitches and the fact that I’m grafting to a cast-on edge.

If I were to make this hat again, I’d save myself some time, forget the provisional cast-on.  It really only gave me trouble.  I would just cast on with the contrasting color, and knit a few rows, in pattern (don’t need to do the cables, just the knits where the knits go, and the purls where the purls go).  Then switch to the working yarn and go to town.

 I wish I had taken some pictures of the grafting process, but I was so frustrated at that point, I was ready to rip some more and start a different pattern.  Maybe next time.

Here is a picture of the finished hat:

Here is a picture of the one I ripped out:

My FLAK is making good progress.  I’ve moved the back to scrap yarn, and I’m picking up stitches for the front.  I made a minor change to the pattern here.  The instructions call for knitting the right front, then putting it on holders, kitting the left front, putting it on holders, then going back to the right front, and working across it, casting on the center, then working the left.  I despise tails (and this thing has about a thousand already, who thought 50 gm balls were a good size for yarn anyway!), so I started on the left, I’ll put the stitches on a holder, knit the right, cast on at the end, then pick up the left and continue on.  Should work fine.

 I really like the way this is turning out.  I can’t wait to finish it up.

 (The photo is from a few days ago, so it’s not quite current)

Many of you know that my father died from complications after a bone marrow transplant.  He developed Leukemia late in life, and was just not able to survive the treatment.

One of the things that made the horrific treatment a little more bearable was the generous gifts that people made and donated for Chemo patients.  There were always hats, or scarves, or shoulder throws that were available to all patients when needed.  Since my father past, I’ve spent some time raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.  I’ve been trying to give back, and help others.

I decided late in January to knit a Chemo Cap every month this year, and donate it to one of our local cancer centers.  I’m already a month behind, so I’ve got to get caught up.

Stay tuned, I’ll post progress as I go.

I finished this up, and gave it to Gwen as a Christmas present.  But we haven’t been able to get her to wear it!

She finally put it on this morning.  Isn’t she adorable!

P.S.  She only wore it for about 5 minutes.