Another Chemo Hat

My friend, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, had a mastectomy and is now in the middle of chemotherapy with radiation therapy yet to look forward to, has lost her hair and eyebrows.   Fortunately, she is a strong personality and has handled all of this with grace and humor.  Her husband is a rock that she can lean on and is a pillar of strength.   As friends, there isn't much you can do to help and you don't want to intrude or tire her out with too many visits or be overly sentimental.  She isn't that kind of person.....and frankly neither am I.  That is probably why we get along and she is one of a very few women in my lifetime that I have counted as  friends.

There are not many things you can do, but there is one thing that I CAN do.  Knit hats.   You lose much of your body heat through your head.   When you have no hair.....the loss is really significant and noticeable.  Not only is your head cold.....you are freaking bald.   Now, I know that many men are bald and not happy with that situation, but society readily accepts the sight of a bald man.  A cue ball bald woman not so much.   So to be warm and to not appear freakish, women who are going through chemotherapy tend to wear hats during the day as well as night.   Fancy hats.  Frilly cute hats. Warm snugly hats.  Hats with a sense of humor.

Since she is not a frilly person or a person who wears dainty pastels [neither am I], the hats I have been making are bold, sensible, warm and comfortable.   This is a cabled brim hat.  The pattern is from Knitty.com.    Man, it is amazing what you can find on the Internet.   For those of you who may be interested in knitting or crochet,  I really suggest you sign up for Ravelry.com  It is a huge on line community of people who love to craft, creative and more than willing to share patterns and tips.

Cable Brimmed Hat

They say that after Chemo and Radiation, your hair grows back in differently.  Sometimes it is curly where it was straight before, sometimes it's even darker or a different texture.

So while my friend is waiting for her NEW hair to grow in she has another hat to keep warm.