In between all the other small projects I have been working on, I managed to finish the back of Ropewalk:
I’ve started the front and have the ribbing done, but I set it aside this weekend to work on this:
This is Pompeii, a hat designed by Laurie Gonyea, knit from Silverspun Sport yarn from the Feel Good Yarn Company. I purchased this as a kit from the company’s website, here. Note that you can download the pattern free of charge — according to the Ravelry pattern page, that offer is good through March 31.
This looks like a complex knit, but it is not — it is mosaic knitting, so you are only ever knitting with one color per row. You slip stitches to form the pattern, pulling the second color up from the previous row. So it is much easier to knit then it looks.
All this stitch slipping does make for a compressed row gauge — this is knit on size 6 needles and the row gauge is 10 rows to the inch. Still, I will finish this hat today, and will be able to give it to my friend who is undergoing chemo tomorrow. The yarn is a dream to knit, so I am loving working with it.
I think the Silverspun yarn is a perfect choice for a chemo cap. The yarn is 87% Combed Cotton, 5% Silver, 5% Nylon, 3% Spandex. I lifted this statement from the website:
The silver content in SilverSpun makes it therapeutic and conductive. Silver inhibits the growth of odor causing bacteria, has excellent thermal properties, is nontoxic and is perfect for those suffering from diabetes, arthritis and sensitive skin.
Often the skin becomes extra-sensitive when one is undergoing chemotherapy. This is a good thing to remember when knitting chemo caps — my friend told me that she is unable to wear some caps that other people have given her because they are knit from acrylic and that irritates her skin. I made a point of choosing the softest natural fibers I could find for the hats I knit for her — after confirming that she is not allergic to any of the fibers.
And now I need to get back to this knitting. After I play with this little guy, that is!