Forget Global Warming. Forget Banks closing down sock clubs. Forget 801 Virgins. This, my friends, is TRULY the END OF THE WORLD!

Regular readers (hi Newbies!) will know that I NEVER EVER NEVER knit for charity. Actually, I RARELY knit for anyone other than myself. I am selfish selfish knitter. That’s not to say I’m not generous. My mantra is I can’t spare a square, but I can write you a check. So no orphans for me or cold kids or people needing blankets in far off places – it’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that my knitting time is precious and I’m not willing to share it.

Regular readers will also note that I’m VERY particular about yarn. I learned long ago (see Ribby Cardi archives) that if I don’t like the yarn, I’ll hate the project. AND I have an aversion to anything even remotely hairy – i.e. angora, mohair, alpaca – HATE THEM. Oh and it’s got to be soft. Not scratchy. I’m a cashmere girl living on a merino budget. HAHAHAHA! I like that. Anyway. The point of all this is that I broke out of my comfort zone in a big BIG way.

Dudes. Hold onto yourselves as the earth spins off it axis. I knit for charity. I knit with fun fur. Okay okay. Not really fun fur – it’s Bernat Disco. And I bought a lot of it. Like 8 balls of it.

It’s almost pretty isn’t it?

This is the deal. The other day I was reading blogs and I came to Susan’s post about knitting chemo caps for kids and how they love the fun fur (although I think it would cause my skin to bleed but who’s going to doubt the kids?) Some of you might remember that late last year my husband had a nasty bout of Melanoma where we got to spend some awful time in a Cancer Hospital.

I blame PTSD. Whenever Cancer gets mentioned these days I’m a BLITHERING IDIOT. I just start crying. And one of my strongest memories of that horrific month is the first time Georgie went into the Cancer Hospital. He was dropping off some slides and I was waiting in the car so we didn’t have to park and when he came out he looked stricken (not that we didn’t both look stricken all the time those days.) G shaves his head and he had been thinking about letting his hair grow back but when he came out of the Cancer Hospital he told me that he would shave his head forever in solidarity with all the bald kids he had just seen in the hospital and how he thought that everyone who worked there should be made to shave their heads to be just like the kids. Broke my fucking heart. Shattered it really.

So when I saw Susan’s post, and then went over and read what Kate was doing, well, I couldn’t stop myself.

Fuchsia Fever

It’s actually a contest! Here are the particulars:

1. You email Kate with your name, email, snail mail and blog ( if you have one)
kskaare (At) gmail (Dot) com
2. She emails you with a word document with several hat types.
3. You knit a few. I knit a few. You tell your friends to knit a few. If they arrive in a box from you, you get in the prize drawing– more hats, more chances.
4. You must have the hats TO KATE in Boston by February 28, 2007.
5. Kate puts your name in the contest…

I have donated a skein of G-Rocks and a skein of January One and a box of my palette notecards to the cause. There are many other great prizes. Check out Kate’s blog for ALL of the details!

I used this pattern to make my hat, on size 9 needles. I cast on while we were at the hospital for G’s follow up appointment (everything is fine, by the way. They don’t want to see him for six months.) It took me way longer than an hour, but basically because this stuff is HEINOUS to knit with. (I even picked up a dropped stitch. Have you ever tried picking up a dropped stitch with FUN FUR? It’s only fun if by fun you mean NOT FUN.) But I keep thinking about those kids and the really horrible lot they’ve been dealt and I may be as proud of this damn hat as I’ve been with anything else I’ve knit. What are you waiting for? Get knitting! (But seriously, if it’s more your speed to write a check or knit a scarf or a small sweater, then do that. We all need to do what’s right for us.)

Disco Queen!