For February, I knit Cap Karma Hat.  It was a pretty good pattern.  It ended up a bit longer that I would have liked.  Overall it’s a good solid design.

 For March, I gave up on the free hat pattern route, and just made a hat.  It’s a rolled brim, stockinette stitch, no-pattern hat.  I like it so much, I might make one for myself.  I really like how easy it is to adjust the length of the hat, by just rolling the brim up or down.  If your ears get too warm, just roll that brim up a bit and you’re good.

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:

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.