Today is October 1, the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For those who have visited our site before, you may have read in the blog about my personal experience with breast cancer. I was diagnosed with Stage 1 BC 3 years ago, and thankfully, I am doing very well. In many ways, it is my experience as a survivor that prompted me to open The Knitting Experience. For me, knitting became my escape from the big "C", my way to relax, and slow down.
But, knitting has another wonderful property - it produces something that you can give another to bring them warmth and comfort. That is why The Knitting Experience is going to be sponsoring knitting for chemotherapy patients. We are going to have free patterns for chemo caps available at the store, along with recommendations for appropriate yarns (for example, a pure wool is too rough for someone undergoing treatment), and we will serve as a drop off point for items made for chemotherapy patients and will distribute them to the local American Cancer Society office and oncology units. If you are interested in participating, feel free to give us a call for ideas. We are looking for hats, scarves, mittens, socks, etc... be creative! While hats are very important because of the hair loss many experience, some chemo treatments cause circulation problems in the hands and feet so mittens and socks are very welcome. As we develop our program, we are going to ask people to donate random yarns from their personal stashes to be used for these projects. We are also looking for ideas and good patterns so please feel free to share any that you feel will work for this purpose.
On October 16, the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk will be held on the town mall. I will be walking (visit my site here) and encourage anyone who will be in the area to come out and support this great event!