Knitting With Granny LJ

Good morning:

The outside market is drawing to a close.  Next week will be my last outdoor market.  Then beginning in the middle of October we move into the Senior Center  and to Saturdays.  I have opted to make the last Wednesday of September my last outdoor market.

I have done that for a couple of reasons.  One is the weather beginning in September gets rather iffy.  And the second is that while I have not sold a lot of caps, between the market and Shorebirds, my inventory is pretty limited right now. 

Also, the musician and I had a discussion about the cap I made for him and the changes that need to be done.  So I will be casting on a black tam again.  I really want to get this cap right, because I want him to look good while he is on stage and because I really want to unlock the secrets of the tam.  All the patterns I have seen for tams make the body of the tam very shallow.  And what it looks like in the pictures is a decorated plate on the head.  I cannot imagine a true Scot wearing that kind of thing on his head.  Actually, I cannot imagine anyone wearing that kind of a cap — for any reason.  Will keep  you posted on the tam news as it develops. 

Started another rolled brim cap at market this week.  It is a lovely color-way in light blues, lavenders and purple.  One of the other vendors at the market came over to my space on Wednesday and saw me working on it.  She loves purples.  I think she may want to get it when it is done. 

I plan to spend the break time between markets getting the finish work done on the pile of caps I have waiting.  There are 4 that need finish work and 3 that need tops.  I also have a couple that need to be taken out.  And an IO cap that needs some serious unknotting.  That one I was working in a black wool with a dark red eyelash.  And the eyelash has snarled so badly that I have had to cut it several times just to be able to keep knitting.  I am leaning toward taking that one out.  I really love working, occasionally, in an eyelash yarn, but I usually rewind the skein on a toilet paper roll before I start knitting with it.  As you can guess, I  did not do that this time.  Won’t make the same decision next time.

Well, that is about all the news from here for now.  Have a great day and happy knitting.

Granny LJ

Good morning. 

Did a chemo cap  last week for Karen.  It is the first one I have done since I did one for my best friend, Jan, three years ago.  After she died, I went into a chemo cap slump.  Before doing one for her, I kept two or three in inventory to give to chemo patients.  My friend and mentor, Dodie, got me started on them when I was first getting into the cap making phase of my life.  I usually had chemo patients that I did not know. 

But Jan was different.  We worked in the same state agency for  15 years.  She was almost 10 years to the moment older than I am. Her kids were pretty much grown up and I was raising my son who had a way of dreaming up really weird things to do.  Fortunately one of her three had done something like whatever I was coping with at home.  As a result of her listening and her counsel, my son got raised to be a great and creative adult, and I did not end up in the funny farm.  After we quit the agency, we drifted apart and only emailed occasionally.  When I moved here I found out that she and her husband had moved to Lincoln  City, so we started getting together again and renewing our friendship. 

Jan had had a lumpectomy for breast cancer followed by radiation therapy, several years before, and the doctors said, “Don’t worry.  You are fine.”   So it was a shock to learn that she had a recurrence of the cancer and it was pretty wide spread. 

By then she was in the Portland area and we were back to emails.  I sat down and started a chemo cap for her, in a rich Navy blue.  When it was done, I decorated it with a silver finish pin that I had  — and sent it.

That was in about October of that year.  Before her birthday the following year, I got a phone call from her daughter telling me that Jan was dead.  After that call, I simply could not make another chemo cap.  And I still cry when I think about her and I still miss her.  Frequently I think:  ” I should tell Jan about that.”  or “I wonder how Jan and her grandkids are doing.”   “I should call Jan.  I haven’t talked to her in a long time. ” 

Then last week, Karen said to me, “My aunt who is also my godmother is having chemotherapy for cancer, and it is also her birthday.  Would you make her a chemo cap.”

I rummaged my stash and found a pretty lavender for the cap and then found a lavender base yarn that was an almost perfect match in color.  And a lovely pin to dress it up.

I gave her the chemo cap and it is now on its way to her aunt/godmother.

How do you make a chemo cap? 

Here is an outline of the way I do a chemo cap.

Yarns:  I  use a Berrocco Chinchilla yarn and a base yarn out of either wool or a wool blend. 

Cast on 92 stitches on size 6 needles in the base yarn.  Then alternate a row of the Chinchilla with a row of the base yarn.  The Chinchilla is fuzzy enough to cushion the base yarn and the base yarn makes the Chinchilla a little more substantial feeling. 

Knit the alternating rows until the cap body measures about five to seven inches, and then begin top off.  Again, I top off with a seven-point top off, but any favorite top off will do. 

I hope you never have to make a chemo cap for a good friend, but if you do, this is the one I would recommend. 

Have a good day.  Good knitting.  Granny LJ

Good morning:

This has been a busy summer.  And a good one.  Mostly it has been a good one because of the Wednesday Market.  

Have only missed two markets since May.  I missed once because somebody breathed on me and gave me a bad cold.  The other time was because the weather was not cooperating. 

But I have been knitting my fingers to the bone.  So that is good.  Last week at market I sold a cap that I thought was a real looser — and  would end up as a shop sister.  It was a basic watch cap that I had made in a handspun brown with wisps of white through it.   But some young lady with black hair came along, loved it and bought it.   I was busy with several other customers at the time and so did not pay much attention after I gave her  change.  Then a few minutes later,  I looked across the market lot and saw  a really great brown cap on a lady with black hair.  Obviously I was in some sort of twilight zone, because it took me a minute or two to remember I had just sold the cap to her.  It amazed me that it looked so good — both in color and in workwomanship.  That was the first time in a very long time I have seen one of my caps on a head and walking around.

Later that same day, the lady who sells herbs and garden plants put on the cap I made for her.  She was in the middle of the lot and directly across from me.  That kind of rattled me too.  It, too, really looked good.  And when I thought about it a little more, it seemed to me that every thing I wanted for the cap to be — it was.  It was pretty, and had room for all her hair and it fit just right.  

I told Karen how excited I was seeing my caps in action.  And she said, “What have I been telling you!” 

At any rate I came home  enthusiastic about getting the caps that need to be finished, topped and finished.  Right now I am working on a chemo cap for Karen’s aunt and godmother so that takes priority but I  will be back to work on the caps on the  projects-in-waiting table, soon.

Have a great day.  Good knitting.  Granny LJ