If you have something to share, please do.

If you are going through treatment or have a friend or just want to encourage someone, please email it to us. We will only use your name if you request it. What one person goes through or has gone through may help someone else that is going through the same thing and needs a little encouragement. You can send it to us at chemocaps@yahoo.com.

Note received from one of our 'cappers'

We received this note from Dawn today:

Thank you and the Allen Seniors for the cap. I got a new one today while at the North Texas Regional Cancer Center to match a couple of pair of my pajamas.

I had another one which I still use and has withstood many washings.

Your time and effort is greatly appreciated by those of us who have little or a lot less of the hair we used to have!

I replied and asked her if it was ok to put her thank you on our blog. This is the response that we got from Dawn.

Perhaps my cancer experience would be helpful to others. I was diagnosed with stage 4, an inoperable tumor, lung cancer (I am a non-smoker) in the fall of 2004. I have been on 3 different sets of drugs, each has worked very well up to a point and the side effects have been manageable and allowed me to live a ‘normal’ life. I have the side effects but they have not been devastating as they are with many people. The tumor has been reduced significantly over this period of time. Earlier this year, in March, the side effects were more than I could tolerate and my doctor decided to give me time to recover. The tumor has been stable so I am still off chemo and I am feeling so much better and will have tests and learn more the first part of November.

God has blessed me through every part of this journey and I am walk daily hand in hand with my Healer. I hope I can encourage others to know that God is in control and wants the best for you. I also have many friends and relatives who care and are always there and I Praise God for them and His guidance.

Dawn

Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Dawn. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. I know it will help someone else that is going through the same thing you are and will help others that have a loved one or friend that needs encouragement.

Ribbons of Many Colors

The pink ribbon for breast cancer is probably the most worn ribbon for the support of cancer survivors and cancer patients. Did you know that there are other colors representing other forms of cancer? Here is a chart of the ribbons. If you click on the picture, it will get bigger so you can see which ribbon represents the types of cancer.

Happy Birthday, Vivian

A special birthday to Vivian on September 16. She is currently on a cruise with her mother to Spain, Italy, France and England. We hope she's enjoying the trip. We sure miss her here. She's the glue that keeps things together in our project.

Cap Deliveries

Monday, Sept 14, we delivered 75 caps to the Texas Oncology Center and today, Wednesday, we delivered 75 more to the Baylor Medical Center. We're working on winter caps now and Halloween caps. It'll soon be time to start knitting Christmas caps.
Thanks to all that are knitting the caps making it possible to give them to those that need them.

WANTED!!!!!!

Knitters and crocheters! If you like to knit or crochet and would like to make caps for our project, we welcome new people!! We'd love to have you join us. No regular meetings, you can make your caps while watching TV or waiting in a waiting room for an appointment. We have the patterns. If you don't knit or crochet but know someone who does, let them know of our work. (I should say 'fun'.) Our email address is:chemocaps@yahoo.com.
And tell others of this blog. Thanks to all of our knitters and crocheters. Next week we're making a delivery of caps that are going to put a lot of smiles on the faces of those that need a smile. And we can be proud that we helped them smile.

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.

More Chemo Caps

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

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.

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.

Chemo Caps 1

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

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

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

A knitters/crocheter tool box

It seems like a lot of great knitters making our great caps don't have a 'tool box'. Vivian, Mary, Lena, and Jan carry theirs with them all the time. Well, today we decided to show everyone what our tool boxes consist of. Then everyone will know what to add to their toolbox when they decide to make one. We love y'all.

New lady on our team

Yes, we have a new lady on our team. Her name is Sally. She doesn't have much of a personality or looks but she sure is a help to us. She's going to show you some of the caps we've been making. She showed us a better way to show off our caps. We'd love to have more knitters, by the way. So, how do you like our caps and our new model, Sally?

We are so busy

I can't believe it has been two months since we last wrote in the blog. We have been so busy making caps and delivering them. We delivered 125 caps last week to Baylor and Texas Oncology in Plano. As usual they were so happy to get the caps. We were privileged to go to the Infusion center at Baylor Hospital to witness some of the patients going through our new caps. Jackie, the administrator, told us that it is the highlight of their day while getting chemo to look and choose a cap.

To date, we have made more than 2500 caps and it hasn't even been a year yet.
We have met so many wonderful people from this project. We have new knitters and crocheters and we are thrilled when they bring the caps to us. You can see the pride in their smiles when they give us the caps. Today, there were many caps brought into the center to us. Sure makes our hearts warm.

And the variety is really something. Everyone wants to make different caps and as long as they are made of soft yarn, we love them all. You couldn't find prettier caps in a department store. We have a lot of red, white and blue caps for the 4th of July. Those with cancer cannot be thought of as someone who must stop everything to let cancer take over their lives. They are just like everyone else, wanting to celebrate holidays, looking forward to happy times and not dwelling on their illnesses. And we feel so happy that we can help them in their efforts. Cancer affects everyone. We can't forget that!

Such wonderful people at Baylor

Vivian, Lena, Joyce and Jan went to the Baylor Regional Medical Center today, Thursday, April 24. What a wonderful place and the people are sooooo nice. We met Gigi Steele, who is a retired nurse who volunteers her time at the cancer unit. What a wonderful person. She's the kind of nurse that you would look forward to seeing come into your room if you were in the hospital. She would just brighten your day. And Robin Jacks is in charge of Guest Services. When she saw us, her eyes lit up. She told us how everyone just loves our caps and is all the talk around the chemo center. She is such a nice person, really friendly. We were so happy to be there. We took 50 caps for them to give to patients this time. The caps will last them a little while until we can get more caps made. We sat with Gigi for quite awhile (her day off from volunteering) and had such a good time with serious talk, fun talk and girl talk! The thing that we didn't expect out of our project is all the wonderful people that we are meeting along the way. It seems as if everyone that works there is nice. We didn't get to meet all of them but, if Robin and Gigi are examples of the staff that works there, we are impressed.

There are many nice people in the world, aren't there?

Eva and Luisa

Eva was so moved when she saw people with the caps that she wanted to learn to crochet. Loisa taught her and she completed caps within the first week. Here she is learning to crochet.

Baylor Cancer Center

We started to deliver caps to Baylor about a month ago and they are being well received! I've gotten calls from Gigi, the volunteer at Baylor. She called to tell me how happy the caps are making people. Next week she is going to take pictures and send them to us. The pictures will be of people with our caps. This is a picture of the first time our group delivered caps to Baylor. We're bringing a bunch of caps there tomorrow, April 24th.

More knitters and crocheters

Wow! We have more knitters and crocheters! Carolyn from Wylie came by yesterday, bringing us three caps that she made. She was worried about her seams. She thought that they didn't look good. I looked at the caps and said "What seams?" They were great seams, better than mine. You could actually turn the cap inside out without seeing the seam. We welcome Carolyn to our group!
Our caps are looking very springy! Barbara Overall brought some darling caps in. They actually have a fancy border around them.
Rose is our newest 'new' knitter. By that I mean that she's not only new to the center but she hasn't knit in years. Her goal is to be able to knit and talk at the same time! We get quite a kick out of her.

Visit to Baylor Medical Center

Vivian, Lena and Joyce went to Baylor to deliver our first batch of caps to them. The center was very acceptive of the caps and was so excited to know that we will be delivering more caps to them.

Some new spring caps

Here are some new caps that were sent to Joyce.

New places, faces, and caps

Our project is going very well. We have a couple of new places to bring caps, Richardson Regional Medical Center, Parkland Hospital in Dallas and Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. Tomorrow caps will be delivered to Baylor Hospital where they showed an interest in our caps. Two new ladies came into the center today. One of them has a friend who is the sister to Robin Roberts. Robin's sister is in New Orleans where she is also a TV broadcaster. We were pretty excited about that. She's going to tell her about our project.
While we were at the center, a cancer survivor called to thank us for the caps that she received. She just loves them and wanted us to know. I got a thank you note from one of the ladies that I sent caps to in MI. She, too, was really excited about her caps and she wanted us to know that the cancerous tumor is shrinking. That was good to hear too.
We're making spring/summer caps and I think that we're going to have to make more. Oh, we also will be going to a nursing home to find knitters and crocheters!

Our Story Was on line in the Lion Brand website

Here is the story as it was originally entered into the Lion Brand Website.
Vivian and I were having tea with Joyce, our friend who had gone through chemotherapy, her hair growing back nicely. We were sitting at the Allen Senior Recreation Center in Allen TX. Vivian and I were knitting. Joyce told us that when she was undergoing chemo, she had a cap to wear to bed after she lost her hair. She said that the seams were kind of painful when she slept in it. She said that the caps helped because the skin is so tender after the hair loss. Vivian went home and looked up chemo caps on the internet. She found a website with patterns for knitting and crocheting. A few days later, she brought the patterns in. We were so excited to see that we could do something to help those that would need the caps. So we started to knit and crochet. We knew that we needed really soft yarn and we found the Lion Brand yard at the Hobby Lobby store. Others at the center asked what we were doing. They wanted to join our little group. Two weeks later we had 30 hats. We brought them to the McKinney Cancer Center in McKinney TX. They were thrilled to see the different colors and patterns of the caps. There wasn't anyone in the reception area when four of us brought the caps there. Two women came in and had their caps on. When we showed them the caps we brought, they were really excited about them and each picked a cap out. They replaced their caps with the new ones. It was so nice to see the smiles on their faces. One of the ladies had the same situation with her cancer that Joyce did and Joyce was able to share how well she has done since then. The pictures we took showed the smiles on, we who could give and those that benefited from our caps. We are going to continue to make the caps and bring them to the cancer center. We were so humbled by the experience and found something that we can do for others to make their day a little brighter. One never knows when she may be in the same situation.

Spring Caps

Now that spring and summer are approaching, our knitters and crocheters are making light, soft (as usual) and springy caps. And we're even making flowers to put on the caps. Hmmm, maybe Mary can make butterflies too! Do you remember when all the ladies wore fashionable hats? Now our 'cappers' can wear beautiful caps for Easter or for just strutting their stuff in their spring caps. Here is a picture of a few of our completed spring caps.

Joyce

Joyce is feeling pretty perky lately. We tease her and tell her that she's getting bossy. We love it though because it shows that she's able to take a more active part in our project. She's going to be our PR person for sending out cards, printing and mailings. Oh, and she's trying to learn how to crochet!! Now that's really an accomplishement!!

Another interview

We were interviewed by Nancy Pacheco yesterday. She is the editor of some of the communitie newspapers in and around Allen. It was a good interview and we should expect to see articles in the April editions. We think that this will generate an interest by knitters and crocheters, expecially some of the elderly ladies living in senior communities that know how to knit but don't really have much to knit. The caps don't take long and they should enjoy completing something that can be used by chemo patients, giving of themselves even in their late years.

Letter from the Office of Robin Roberts of WFAA

We sent some caps to Robin Roberts, the news commentator on WFAA who was diagnosed with cancer and has been undergoing chemotherapy. Following is a letter of thanks that we received from her office:

Hello!Robin wishes that she was able to thank everyone personally. Robin has received the wonderful chemo caps along the letter that you sent and they have truly lifted her spirits. She would like to thank you for thinking of her during this time and wants you to know that you too are in her thoughts and prayers. Robin appreciates you support, encouragement and thoughtfulness.Thank you very much.Sincerely, Sonny Mullen

Patterns for knitted caps

Chemo Cap Knit Pattern
Pattern for Knit Chemo CapKnitted on Straight Needles Size #11 (8mm)Yarn: Use Yarn Bee (Airy) Takes approximately 50 yards.Gauge: 10 stitches = 4 ½ inchesGarter stitch – knit every rowK2tog – knit 2 stitches togetherInstructions:Cast on 40 sts on #11(8mm) needles.Bottom of hat should measure 18 ½ inches.Work in Garter Stitch for 5 1/2 inches. Row 1 *K8, K2tog* across row (36 sts)Row 2 Knit 1 rowRow 3 *K7, K2tog* across row (32sts)Row 4 Knit 1 rowRow 5 *K6, K2tog* across row (28 sts)Row 6 Knit 1 rowRow 7 *K5, K2tog* across row (24 sts)Row 8 Knit 1 rowRow 9 *K4, K2tog* across row (20 sts)Row 10 Knit 1 rowRow 11 *K3, K2tog* across row (16 sts)Row 12 Knit 1 rowRow 13 *K2, K2tog* across row (8 sts)Row 14 Knit 1 rowCut yarn leaving 20 inch tail. Run through remainingSts Making a circle and sew up seam. Weave in ends.

Crochet caps pattern

Joyce's Chemo Cap Project Directions for Crochet Pattern 11. ch 3, join with sl stitch to form ring. Ch1,6 sc in ring,(do not join.)place marker in last sc of each round.2. 2 sc in each sc. (12 sc)3. (1 sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc) around.4. (1 sc in each of next 2 sc, 2 sc n next sc)around.(24 sc)5. (2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of next 3 sc) around.6. (1 sc in each of next 4 sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. (35 sc)7. (2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of next 5 sc) around. (42sc)(You can place the marker at the end of this row and keep it there until you do a few more rows. That way, if the hat is too tight or too loose, you can rip back to the marker and either add or subtract stitches from round 8 to adjust the size of the hat.)8. 1(1 sc in each of next 6 sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. (48 sc)9. (2 sc iin next sc, 1 sc in each of next 7 s) around. (54 sc)((If necessary to make the crown wide enough: (1 sc in each of the next 8 sc, 2 sc in next sc) around))10. Sl stitch into next sc, ch 1, sc in each stitch around, join with sl st to ch 1.11-23. Ch 1, sc in each sc around, join with sl st to ch1. (Try on your hat now and see if it's long enough for you. Add a row or two if it isn't long enough. Or take a row off it it's too long.)24. Ch 1, )1 sc in each of the next 8sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. Join with a sl st to ch 1. ((If you added a row after row 9, then so this instead: (2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of next 9 sc) around. Join with sl st to ch1.))24-27. Ch 1, sc in each sc around. Join with sl st to ch 1. Fasten off. (These last 4 rounds should curl up to make the Brim.

Joyce's Son Comments On the Cap's

Joyce's Chemo Cap Project

Letter sent to the Mayor of Allen, Texas
With all of the people you meet everyday you may or not remember me as a volunteer the past two years on the advisory board with Allen Animal Control, which by the way is a pleasure to do.

I wanted to let you know about a project that a group of Allen Senior Citizen members have been doing over the past six months, started because of my mother Joyce Schmitt. My mother who has gone to the center since it's opening was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and stage 3 lung cancer in April 2006. After spending several months searching for the right oncologists, getting second and third opinions, she started chemo this fall.
As I'm sure you are aware most Chemo patients loose their hair and because of additional treatments and a second round of chemo that she just completed Mom has not had hair for sometime.
The project I am speaking about of is called "Joyce's Chemo Cap's". a group of Mom's friend's at the center heard her complain about the caps bothering her at night when she slept and her head would get cold.. Out of that comment while having coffee at the center six months ago began a group of members that crochet or knit and have given away more than 1,500 caps to cancer patients, They have helped start groups in six other states. These caps which are by the way beautiful, are donated to hospitals and cancer centers in Collin County.

Friend inspires Cap Creation

Joyce's Chemo Cap Project

From an article in Neighborsgo section Dallas Morning News December 15, 2007
After finding out that their friend Joyce Schmitt was diagnosed with cancer, friends Jan Goble, Vivian Denbow and Lena Louter of Allen started the Chemo Cap Project. Joyce had mentioned to her friends that the caps she had to sleep in hurt her head. because of the seams. So, Jan, Vivian and Lena started looking for patterns on the Internet for Chemo Caps. The patterns they found suggested using yarns that were soft to the touch. Jan and Vivian bought yarn and started making Caps. They then asked Joyce to approve the yarn and make sure it was soft.

On August 2, 3007 the friends started making caps at the Allen Senior Center. Several others at the center joined the project. Because many of the women can crochet and knit, they gathered patterns.

Some members such as Lena focus mainly on making children's Chemo Caps. Lena has made more than 100 children's cap and sent them to the Scottish Rite Hospital and St. Jude''s Children's Hospital.

Since the group started, they have grown to more than 20 women who knit and crochet caps. Because members have shared news about the project with family and friends, the idea has spread and groups have formed in Florida, Georgia and Virginia.

They also are now working with the McKinney Cancer Center and the Plano Cancer Center to distribute adult caps. The only stipulation members had was that the caps be given to patients who could use them at no cost.

The group has recently renamed the Chemo Cap Project as "Joyce's Chemo Cap Project".

Without Joyce's friendship and understanding about the need for comfortable caps, her friends would not have known there was such a need. Because of all of the support received members are glad to donate the "caps" .

Seniors Create Caps for Cancer Patients

Joyce's Chemo Cap Project

Article appeared in the Dallas Morning News section Neighborsgo August 2007

Allen Senior Recreaion Center members Vivian Denbow, Jan Goble and Lena Louter recently became invovled with Chemo Caps, a group that donates their time by making caps for cancer patients.

They created the group after a mutual friend of theirs, Joyce Schmitt, was diagonsed with cancer. She remarked that the hats she had to sleep in hurt her head because of the seams. After hearing this Vivian searched the Internet for a pattern to make a more comfortable fitting cap. The site visited suggested using yarns that were soft to the touch. So Jan and Vivian went shopping for yarn and started knitting. Joyce having the final approval on whether the caps were soft enough.

Others at the center who were not able to knit or crochet began donating money or yarn for the project.

In August the group donated 30 Chemo Caps to the McKinney Cancer Center. It was a humbling experience. We met two cancer patients and they were so happe to see and feel the caps that both ladies immediately took off the hats that they had on and put on our Chemo Caps'

Joyce's Chemo Cap Project

The Chemo Cap Project was started by Jan Goble, Lena Louter and Vivian Denbow after a mutual friend Joyce Schmitt was diagnosed with cancer. Joyce said that the caps she had to sleep in hurt he head because of the seams. We found patterns on the Internet for Chemo Caps. The patterns suggested using yarns that were soft to the touch. Jan and I bought yarn and started making the caps. We asked Joyce to "approve the yarn" to make sure it was soft. We started knitting the caps at the Allen Senior Recreation Center on August 1, 2007. Several of our friends at the center have joined us in making the Chemo Caps. Since many of the women can crochet and knit we have patterns for both types of caps. The caps are great for sleeping or being out on the town. Our Allen group had grown and now we have over twenty women knitting and crocheting the Chemo Caps. Our project has been shared with family and friends and spread to Dallas, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Pennslyvania, Iowa and Virginia.
Some of the senior who can not make the caps have either donated money or yarn to the project.
We found several cancer centers in Collin County that wanted the caps. We are currently working with the McKinney Cancer Center and Plano Cancer Center to distribute adult caps. Our only stipulation was that the caps be given to patients that could use the caps at no cost. Lena's main focus had been on childresn's Chemo Caps. Lena has made over 100 plus children's caps and has sent them to St Jude's Children's Hospital and the Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas.
In October we proudly renamed our Chemo Cap Project "Joyce's Chemo Caps" because without her friendshp and understanding of the great need for Chemo Caps we would not have know there was a need.
With your support over 1,500 "Joyce's Chemo Caps" have been made and distributed to cancer facilities in Collin County, and across the United States. Since the need is so great we are currently looking at additional facilities where we can distribute our caps.
If you know anyone who would like to join our group and make Chemo Caps, please contact Jan or Vivian. also if you know of a person in need of a Chemo Cap, they may contact either one of the Cancer Centers that have been mentioned.
Thank you all so much for your continued support. Each and evey one of you had made a difference in someone's life for your committment to this project