A Knitting For Others story . . .
When Kim Goodwin learned her diagnosis of cancer in 2006 she realized that she would loose her hair, it was going to be cold soon, and she didn’t like the option of wearing a wig so she began her search for hats. As she started looking for hats she quickly learned that they’re not made for heads with no hair. So Kim did what any of us would do, call Mom for help! Thus began the search for a knitting pattern for a hat that would work. As Kim knitted her hats she learned very fast to tweak the pattern to her satisfaction and created her own design.
It didn’t take very long before Kim realized that she needed hats in all kinds of colors to accessorize her outfits. After all she’d been through she certainly wanted to be stylish. Throughout her chemotherapy journey she was frequenting radiation and chemotherapy offices on a regular basis and seeing others experience the same struggle of loosing their hair. She was knitting around 10 hats per month and she started carrying them with her and leaving them at the radiation and chemotherapy offices for others to enjoy. Yes, many asked what they could pay for the hats, but Kim wasn’t looking for a financial opportunity rather she wanted to help others in need (some people still wanted to pay for the hats so she just bought more yarn and knitted more hats).
The Yarn Garden Knit Shop became a great resource for Kim and as you might suspect, everyone at the Yarn Garden Knit Shop was very curious about what this customer was doing with her yarn. As Kim was making her 1 skein purchases, everyone asked, “What she was making with just 1 skein of yarn? Why didn’t she need more yarn of the same skein?” This is how Kim met our Knitting for Others (KFO) efforts and now Kim could expand on her own personal efforts to maybe reach more chemotherapy patients.
Kim quickly learned that her materials selection made a difference in whether a hat was comfortable or not. She learned that the yarn must be soft and must have stretch. Once Kim used an Alpaca silk yarn that was beautiful, but it had no stretch making it very uncomfortable to wear.
Some of you may be asking what pattern does Kim use (I certainly wanted to know). I could hear in Kim’s voice that she creates as she goes along – what I call a freeform knitter. Kim describes herself as a novice knitter and one that doesn’t follow a pattern (although I have it on good authority that Carol’s in the process of changing that as we read). We’ve posted the pattern on our website for the chemo hats that a chemotherapy patient would enjoy.
Lessons Learned from wearing a Hat instead of a wig . . .
Wear wigs, have no conversation starter – Kim now realizes that by wearing her hats, total strangers would approach her and share their own personal story, or their family member’s story to encourage Kim on her treatment journey. What an opportunity to share and meet others just from a hat! One particular instance that stood out to Kim was when a 4-year old girl who was completely bald came up and tugged on her shirt while in the grocery store – Kim would have never met this child if she’d been wearing a wig. Kneeling down to talk with this child and to share something they had in common was very memorable and special.
We’re sharing Kim’s story now to spread the word that cancer patients need our help and it’s such a simple thing to knit a hat with just 1 skein of yarn. What a great way to make someone feel special. Please consider joining in Kim and our Knitting for Others effort and make a hat. It’s simple . . . all you need to do is download the pattern, start knitting, and then deliver your finished hat to us. Kim will collect and deliver them to a radiology and chemotherapy office.
Click here to view and print our Chemo Hat pattern.
