Breast Cancer. Yup, I said it.

This relates to knitting. I promise. But first, you have to read about me begging you for money.

So, here’s the thing. I started a team to walk in the Komen Race for a Cure here in Las Vegas, NV on May 3rd. The Susan B. Komen foundation does a major part in awareness, fund raising and research for breast cancer. The race (or walk, as I am going to do it.) is a fund raising opportunity. Now, I’m going to do the hard part, I’m going to heft my wide, pale, used-to-sitting-in-comfy-chairs-and-knitting ass out of bed EARLY in the morning and then drive downtown on a weekend (which I HATE doing) and THEN on top of being awake AND driving downtown I’m going to walk for a mile. All I need you to do is sponsor me. You can do that by clicking here and then clicking on the ‘support Sin City Knitters’ thingy in the lower right hand corner. Then you donate. You whip our your busted up, tired, broken down debit/credit card and you punch in your numbers and you let me and the world know you’re committed to helping cure breast cancer. Or you’re committed to making me get up early on a weekend and schlep downtown to walk around for a few hours. Either way, we’ll take your money.

Now, say you want to be part of our team, but you’re a) lazy or b) busy on May 3rd or c) not in Las Vegas. Well, you can still join our team by doing the Sleep in for a Cure. Which means you pay your $25 to be part of our team, but then you get to sleep in. Or watch cartoons. Or throw a baby shower. Or whatever it is you’re doing that day. You can do that by clicking ‘Join Sin City Knitters’ on that same page and then choosing the last option on the registration page which is the Sleep In for the Cure registration. I’m pretty sure you still get a tee shirt.

Okay, so say you ARE in Las Vegas, you aren’t lazy and you’re not busy and you DO want to walk with us that day. Well, then you can join our team (all the same link still) and show up and come walk with me through downtown Las Vegas. I’ll be coordinating a coffee stop before the walk and we’ll probably go to lunch afterwards to refuel (by which I mean “eat a lot of carbs”) and chat about what an awesome thing we just did.

Now you may ask, “Why, Dani, are you getting out of bed early on a weekend and walking around downtown Vegas? You don’t have breast cancer.” Well dear friends, you are right, I don’t have breast cancer. Yet. But I might, and I’d like for there to be a cure if I ever do get breast cancer. Now, more importantly and more urgently though, there are lots of people who DO have breast cancer RIGHT THIS SECOND. One of whom is my godmother, DeeDee, someone who is very very dear to me. She is a single mother, she’s been my mothers best friend since they were 13 AND on top of those two things which I’m sure qualify you for sainthood, this is her second battle with breast cancer. She survived it once already, but its back now and it’s pissed. Someone else I loved very much died a few years ago after losing a battle with cancer as well. It started as breast cancer and eventually masticized and eventually claimed her life. She was also a single mother and one of the strongest, wisest and weirdest people I’ve ever known. Now, these two women are enough to make me walk, but I’m also walking for their children, for their daughters who are at a higher risk for getting this disease because their mothers did. I’m walking for all the survivors, warriors, victims and orphans of this disease.

So, there you have it, if that sob story doesn’t make you want to go drop $5 or $10 in the coffers than I don’t know what else to tell you other than you probably have no soul. (Or you’re broke. In which case, I forgive you.)

Now, on to the knitting!

This weekend I knit up two hats for DeeDee because she is going to start a very very aggressive chemo treatment this week which means her gorgeous long blond  hair is all going to fall out again. I can’t do anything about the hair falling out, but I can make some stuff to keep her head warm. So I did.

This first hat is my own pattern, based on a stitch pattern from Barbara Walkers Treasury of Knitting (which my Dad and Step Mom bought me for Christmas and it has been the most used addition to my knitting library.) This is the first time I’ve ever knit a hat flat and seamed it. I didn’t like it much, so I’m going to write this pattern for in the round when I do type up the actual pattern. I’m calling this pattern the Moonset Chemo Cap, because DeeDee’s online name has been Moonset for about a hundred years, or whenever she got AOL. It’s knit in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK which I bought at Knit Las Vegas of course.

The other hat I knit up was the Three Sisters Hat by Jan-Knit, also in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK (also bought at Knit Las Vegas, this color was left over from my fingerless mitts I knit awhile back.) I highly recommend this pattern, it was super easy, super beautiful and super quick. I will be knitting this again for my Mom as well, so she has a matching hat like DeeDee’s.

Both are ridiculously soft and I wanted to keep them for myself. But I have hair and live in Las Vegas where hats are a once or twice a year necessity. I dropped both of these in the mail yesterday bound for Anchorage, AK where my godmother lives and will hopefully make them to her safe and radiating with all the love and good health vibes I worked into each stitch.

There you have it! An entire blog post about breast cancer and hopefully no one is in tears yet. I will keep everyone updated on the fund raising progress of the Sin City Knitters team. (Which in my mind is secretly named “Knitties for Titties”, but I thought that might be in poor taste.)

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