Cap Karma

This blog is set up for the cap making community of ladies at the San Francisco International Airport. The caps are for chemo patients and are donated to a local hospital. The hand made caps (knitted or crocheted) are a token of our prayers and well wishes for the recipient.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Autumn Leaves Hat

Pretty Colors. Pattern here.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Todays arrivals

Rebecca was a busy little beaver over the weekend - she found the knit Floppy Brim Hat I posted on Saturday and whipped one out in no time whatsoever. This one is already on it's way to a recipient - a family member of someone in the airport community.



Emily made this one and was all set to post it herself when Blogger (our blog host) was having technical difficulties - so here it is for Em.

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Sunday, October 29, 2006

Aran Toque



I thought this was an interesting looking pattern. You can find the pattern here.

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Saturday, October 28, 2006

Flirty ruffled hat

Found this really cute pattern at the straw.com site - might be filtered as it is a commercial site. The pattern is here.

Watch the gauge here - since they are using a ribbon yarn and you may not be, check the cap against your head or another cap, so that it's not too small or too large - should be easier to figure out since it's crocheted top down.

Floppy Brim Knit Hat

Found a knitting pattern for a floppy brim hat at head huggers. Pattern here.


Friday, October 27, 2006

Pistachio Hat (crochet)



Here's a crochet hat pattern from Interweave Press. You'll find the pattern here (PDF file).

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Pi Topper Chemo Cap



Here's the latest chemo cap pattern from Elann, it's the Pi Topper Chemo Cap.

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Thursday, October 26, 2006

Eastwoodly Hat (crochet)



Here's a crochet hat pattern for all you crocheters out there. :-) You can find the pattern for this here.


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Christina's Easter Bonnet

Christina just completed her second cap - the Lily Chin Easter Bonnet (posted on October 11). She thinks it's a little on the big side but as you can see it looks fine - at least on my head it does!


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Lavender Hat




Here's a simple hat that looks lovely. There's also a removable basketweave band for added warmth. You can find the pattern here.

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Wednesday, October 25, 2006

How do you pronounce that?

So I've had a few of you ask how to pronounce Smariek, well, I wish I knew. And when you make reference to that, I have to really think about who you're talking about - and then I think, oh "S".

Let's look at Smariek another way - "S" stands for the first name, "K" for the last and then what you have is Marie. And I know that's a whole lot easier for all of you. But S - I will not be calling you Marie.

I've been thinking that we should profile our group members, like I did for Tania. And while I did introduce you all to Smariek/Marie, I didn't really elaborate. Marie let me know if you'd like to share a photo of yourself.

I've known Marie for 20 years (yes, it's been that long). She's the first friend I made when I came to this country, met her volunteering at a hospital. Turned out that I was headed for the same high school she was attending.

Marie is a mom and a former IT person. Her little girl, M, is 19 months and keeps mom very busy. It's surprising to me that Marie has time to do anything at all with little M but she's cooking with the blog and patterns, while keeping up with everything else in her life.

She has created a few of the cap patterns listed on this blog:
3 AM Cable Hat (created during the middle-of-the-night feedings)
Asherton Hat
Cap Karma Hat
Claudia Hat

Other than knitting (like crazy - check out her other creations at her blog) , she enjoys cooking, reading, sudoku, photography and is a connoisseur of wine and tea. She is learning latin and says she is learning french but I know she speaks french fluently.

Thanks Marie for all your great ideas and with this blog, blogger and the code stuff that makes this blog function the way it does.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

A Touch of Whimsy Hat




Here's another pretty hat for y'all. I didn't read the instructions very carefully, however it looks like it will involve cabling and seaming. Click here for the hat pattern.

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Monday, October 23, 2006

Mobius Hat



Here's another possible chemo cap design. The Mobius Hat pattern is here:
http://www.elann.com/ShowFreePattern.asp?Id=179024

Like the Dayflower Hat and the Striped Chemo Cap, this is also a winner of the Elann's Chemo Cap Design Competition. There were 7 winners total. I will post the other 4 patterns as soon as they become available.

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Christina's red, white and blue



Crocheted. Pattern.

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Knitting with Beads

Thinking of knitting beads into your hat? Then you might find this Knitty article interesting.

Seduced by Beads
http://www.knitty.com/issuespring06/FEATseducedbybeads.html

Looking for some hat patterns with beads? Try these two hats mentioned on 10/12/06:
http://cap-karma.blogspot.com/2006/10/odessa-hat-black-sea-hat-by-grumperina.html

The Claudia Hat



Here's the Claudia Hat I've been working on. I was getting a bit frustrated trying to knit this in the round, I gave up and ended up knitting it flat. So this is my first attempt at knitting a hat flat and then seaming it at the end. I did not do a very good job of seaming and would appreciate any tips on how you do it.

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Sunday, October 22, 2006

More caps

I went to see Tania yesterday (you've seen pictures of her before modeling some of our caps). She used to work at the airport as an intern but now lives and works up north. She's an incredibly talented crafts-woman (and an engineer). While glassworking is her passion (you've probably seen me wearing some of her glass jewelry at one point or another), she also crochets/knits, makes bead jewelry, photographs and stamps. Check out the caps she has made for the cause.













I am getting ready to knit a cap and remembered that I've got to use a stitch marker - last round I kept losing the little rings and wanted to account for all of them because I didn't want our cats eating them - so I spent a lot of time trying to find the lost ones. Since I thought of that yesterday - I asked Tania to make me a stitch marker that was a bit bigger (and prettier) that would not get lost as easily. I got to watch as she made the big striped bead (photo below with the styling UV blocking glasses), and then design and put together the whole thing. The photo doesn't do it justice.



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Saturday, October 21, 2006

Yarn for Caps

Just thought I'd pass on this bit of information I just learned. Something to think about when choosing your yarn for chemo caps.

There is woman who is a nurse and who has had chemo for breast cancer herself. She is adamant that chemo caps should never be made out of yarns that have elastic in them. She says that the elastic catches on the hair stubble when the hair starts growing back in and she says it's very irritating.

Just something for you to remember, especially if you were thinking of knitting the Dayflower Hat in the yarn it was made with, Elann's Esprit yarn (98.3% Cotton 1.7% Elastic).

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Friday, October 20, 2006

Finally - My cap

So it took me a while to get warmed up. I am having trouble with the crocheting for some reason - the circles aren't joining right - will have to visit some of the crocheters to figure out what I am doing wrong.

The white portion is double crochet and the pink is single crochet in the back loop.

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Dayflower Hat



Isn't this cute? Designed by Shui Kuen Kozinski, who hangs out on the Elann chat center. She is a very talented knitter who does a lot of beautiful stuff, you can see them in the photo gallery section. She even mentions that this is a good hat for people going through chemotherapy. :-) I may even give this one a try after I figure out the Claudia Hat I'm working on.

You'll find the pattern for this Dayflower Hat here:
http://www.elann.com/ShowFreePattern.asp?Id=181024

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Thursday, October 19, 2006

Glaistig Hat




Here's another cable hat. I guess I have a thing for cable patterns because they are usually a unisex design. You can find the pattern here:
http://www.theanticraft.com/archive/samhain06/glaistig.htm

Here's the pattern closeup. Isn't it gorgeous?


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Desperate Housefrau



Whatever you do, please don't knit this Desperate Housefrau hat! That would be as bad as making your cat the Muumuu Vicki mentioned yesterday.

-=<>=-




Well, I've completed my 4th hat, also another Cap Karma Hat. This one is in a wine colored yarn. It's hard to see the pattern in the picture because the yarn color is so dark. It's much easier to see it in the white colored hat. It's hard to see the size difference in this picture, but the wine colored hat is slightly larger/longer and actually follows the pattern. I made the white colored hat slightly smaller and changed the ribbing from K2P2 to K1P1.

I'm currently designing hat #5, The Claudia Hat, so it will be a little while before you'll see it completed.

Want a good chuckle? Check out this knitting cartoon.

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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Hello

Looks like Smariek has been busy searching high and low for some great patterns - some really cute ones there S.

Christina has completed her first cap this round - boy she knows how to whip those caps out. I can't believe I guided her and she is now quite the guru. I had to unravel my cap because it was just wrong.....

OK friends - listen carefully - as a friend I would be wrong if I didn't say something - please don't make your cat a muumuu. No matter how experienced you are and how interesting it looks - your cat won't appreciate it and it's just not nice to humiliate your cat that way.

I found that, Smariek's asherton cap and a number of other new patterns at knittingpatterncentral.com. The new patterns get listed on Wednesday both on the knitting and crocheting sites.

So we are now at 4 caps. 3 from Smariek and 1 from Christina.

Two hats by Caryll McConnell

Looking for more ideas? Here are two hats designed by Carill McConnell. I really like the Patchwork hat.




Here's the pattern to the Patchwork Qiviut hat : http://www.carylldesigns.com/patchwork_qiviut_cap.htm




Here's the pattern to the spiral Rib Qiviut hat :
http://www.carylldesigns.com/spiral_rib_qiviut_cap.htm


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Monday, October 16, 2006

Brimster Beanie




Looking for a "guy" hat to knit? Try this Brimster Beanie. Pattern can be found here:
http://vickiehowell.com/2006/05/brimster-free-pattern-of-month_01.html


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Friday, October 13, 2006

Textured Bands Hat



This pattern is based on the Textured Slip Stitch Cloth, which is also known as the Ballband Cloth because it is a pattern on the inside label of Elmore-Pisgah Peaches & Creme yarn. Besides this hat, this slip stitch pattern has also inspired a Ballband (Swiffer) Mop Cover.

Here's the hat pattern :
http://www.crafterati.com/2006/09/08/textured-bands-hat-pattern/

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Useful links

There are definitely plenty of projects to pick from. I thought I would share some links on some basics, just in case you need it.

1. Annies Attic has information on stitches, both crocheting and knitting. This site may filter for shopping so check it out at home.

2. Knitting with circular needles. If knitting a cap, you do eventually have to transfer to double point needles for the crown

3. Smariek swears by knitting with 2 circular needles for the caps.

4. Crocheting in the round.

5. Crocheting instruction/tutorials/how-to.

6. Knitting instrucutions/tutorials/how-to.

7. Also, for knitting videos, KnittingHelp.Com is an awsome site! I just find it easier to watch a video than try to look at diagrams -Smariek

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Thursday, October 12, 2006

Another Fair Isle Hat



Here's another Fair Isle Hat. Ear Flaps and pompoms are optional; I think it would look better without these add-ons.

Pattern can be found here :
http://www.ohmystars.net/craft/knitting/pfihat.html

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Warming Up

Well, I've started with my first cap. A standard double crochet, in white. I will continue it in white until the last couple of inches and then trim it in another color. It was a nice warm up/refresher project.

Odessa Hat & Black Sea Hat by Grumperina


I love Gruperina. She has 2 hat patterns ...




Odessa:
http://www.magknits.com/feb06/patterns/odessa.htm





Black Sea Hat:
http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/blackseahat.htm

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Lily Chin Easter Bonnet (Crochet)




Here's a free pattern that can be downloaded from Lily Chin's site here :
http://www.lilychinsignaturecollection.com/docs/F003.pdf - PDF file

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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Cap Karma Hat



I've just finished my 3rd hat for this year's chemo caps project. It's the Cap Karma Hat you see above. Sorry, all my hats are unicolor as I'm not very skilled in color changing; I leave that to the rest of you knitting experts. Anyhows, if you're interested you will find the pattern for the Cap Karma Hat here : http://smariek.blogspot.com/2006/10/cap-karma-hat.html.

My penultimate hat was the Asherton Hat in pink. And my antepenultimate hat was the Asherton Hat in red.

I've run out of yarn from Cap-Tain V, but have scrounged up some other yarn in a dark burgundy red color to knit hat #4, another Cap Karma Hat. This one will actually follow my pattern. ;-)

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Crochet cap - anthropologie knock off





http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=50208.0

Oops - Knit along project

Just realized that I put the wrong url for the project I was thinking of for the knit-along. Here is the correct one:

http://www.knittingpureandsimple.com/freehat.html


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Monday, October 09, 2006

Shedir Chemo Cap from Knitty



A couple years ago Knitty put out a special Breast Cancer Awareness issue with lots of cool patterns. One of them is the Shedir Chemo Hat. Isn't it beautiful? You can find the pattern on the Knitty site here : http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall04/PATTsurpriseintro.html This pattern is not for the faint of heart as it is a complex charted pattern.




There are lots of other great patterns. I've been meaning to do the scarf with the heart pattern created by yarn overs. Isn't it lovely? I even picked up the yarn the pattern calls for, Reynolds Blizzard, but I picked red instead of pink.

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Sunday, October 08, 2006

Topi

Smariek and I went to the San Carlos Art and Wine festival on Saturday - we saw quite a number of booths selling crocheted and knitted items but one in particular selling crocheted hats. I remember this booth more than others for two reasons, all the hats were very well crocheted AND they were all made by the booth owner - a man. He offered a large selection of hats - great color combinations and yarns. I made a point to grab a business card to share with you all.

I had thought his company was called Tobi - I wasn't really paying careful attention to that - but looking at his business card, I see that it's called Topi - a word that means hat in indian/hindi.

Anyhows, here is his website: www.topionline.com

Striped Chemo Cap on Elann




Check this out! There's a new Chemo Cap pattern on Elann.

Click here for pattern : http://secure.elann.com/ShowFreePattern.asp?Id=177024




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