Saturday, August 30, 2008

New Knitter

We want to welcome our newest knitter, Jesse. She joined us on Monday and brought us her first cap on Wednesday. Welcome Jesse!!!

Buttons

Aren't our buttons pretty? They were sent to Matthew from all over the United States. They are like frosting on our caps.



Monday, August 18, 2008

We have buttons for our caps






Matthew joined us today along with his lovely wife, Joanna. We enjoyed their company at the center. He brought us a whole lot of buttons for our caps and a lot of yarn too!! Lena, Jerri and I were having a good time picking out buttons and sewing them on the caps. You can see the caps in the sideshow of caps. Here are pictures that we took today. Matthew drew the name for our winner of the lapgan that Mary made and donated to our project. The winner is Joy Dover. I'm sure she's going to love it. These are pictures of all of us at the center today. One of Matthew and Jerri, his mother. Another of Matthew and Joanna.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Trade Fair At Parkview

We had a first booth at a trade fair today at the Parkview Senior Apartments to show our caps and tell others what we are doing with our project. Bob, Vivian, Maria, Mary, Lena, Jerri and Jan worked at the fair. We met a lot of people that were interested in our project. We hope that others will want to join our group by knitting or crocheting. We received a couple of very nice donations from other venders. And we had a raffle of a beautiful lapgan that Mary made out of the leftover yard used to make our caps. The money from the raffle and donations will buy a lot of yarn for more caps. And we found out a few more places that we can take our caps to give to cancer patients. Now we need more knitters and crocheters. Maybe with fall approaching, there will be more wanting to help us. Thank you everyone for participating and for the donations.


Wednesday, August 6, 2008

One year anniversary

August 1, 2008 marked one year of our Chemo Cap Project. It started by Joyce's comment that she wishes she had something to put on her head when she slept because her head hurt because she lost her hair. Now there are more than 20 people knitting and crocheting our caps, not counting the people that visited us and went back to their home states and started to knit caps too. In our group, we have completed and given out more than 2500 caps in this one year.

And the friendships that have started from this project is amazing. The people that we've met at the chemo infusion centers, the 'cappers' that we've met when we delivered the caps, and the relatives of the 'cappers' that have written to us to tell us how happy the caps have made them. When someone tells us "God Bless You", it warms your hearts and you think that there can't be anything more to make you feel good about what you're doing. Then we'll get a letter from someone thanking us for making their life just a little bit easier. Someone comes along and tells us that they want to help us in our project by donations. It doesn't matter if the donations were large or small or even a skein of yarn. It came from their hearts. One ball of yarn is like a loaf of bread that filled the basket to feed the people.

In essence, our project is made up of knitters, crocheters, supporters and the people who need our caps. And when someone says "God Bless You for what you are doing", the blessing goes to everyone involved.

So we start our second year. And to repeat what was said when we were asked how long we were going to make caps: "When cancer is defeated and there is no need for caps, then we will go on to another project".

Note from one of our "Happy Cappers"

It is so endearing when we receive a note from one of the people who receive our caps. We call them 'Happy Cappers' in our scrapebook. It makes everything we do worthwhile and we feel so good to know that our caps are enjoyed and helpful. Here is a note that we received today in our email. It brought tears to our eyes!

I wanted to take time to type this email to tell you how much joy your box of hats has brought me. Every time I'm in chemo, one of my highpoints, is looking at all the beautiful hats you wonderful ladies have made. I have 3 now that I LOVE. I wear them all evening and at night. They are so comfortable. I know you thought this would be a small gesture, but I'm here to tell you, it is much more than that. It brings love, caring, and giving to strangers in a time of such deep illness a smile, a comfy cap to nurture them, and a smile at the giving of such beautiful women! It is especially special to me, because I can still see my mom Knitting slippers and afghans and I would always wear the Knitted slippers when I was ill for some reason, they always brought me such comfort. Mom died 20 years ago and I still wear the one pair I have left all tattered and worn that my mom made. So I find your hats so nurturing and loving and know the size of the hearts they come from.

Wanted you to know I (we) are eternally grateful!
Much Love and HUGE HUGSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Nancy C

Friday, August 1, 2008

What a great person to do this for us!!!

This is a note that we received from a son of one of our knitters, Jerri. We got goosebumps when we read it. We're finding out every day what wonderful people there are in this world!!!

My name is Matthew Nix. My mother has helped with some of the cancer caps. My mother is Jerri Nix. She had called me and asked me if I had any buttons to help decorate your caps. I have several people from all over the world sending me buttons and some donated yarn. I will be driving down Aug 16th-19th to visit my mom and drop off all the donations. I will also be setting up a page on my website dedicated to your efforts. I so far have over 12,000 buttons to donate. Since I'm a jewelry artist... I will be using some of the buttons to make some nice looking wire wrap button pendants. I want to donate 100% of these pendant sales to get you ladies more and FREE yarn to continue what you love doing. I think it's great that you guys think of others and put so much time and effort into it. I would like to meet you when I come down to Allen in August. I will try to help as much as possible.

You can see Matthew's wonderful website and his beautiful artwork at:

www.createapendant.com