How to Knit the Perfect Chemo Cap

How to knit the right chemo caps

Anyone going through chemotherapy is going through a tough time. One way we can help is to learn how to knit chemo caps that takes the patient's needs into consideration. Chemo patients have very sensitive heads because they have lost some or all of their hair. Keeping this in mind, the caps need to be very soft with little or no texture and without seams.

The perfect chemo cap needs to have these three qualities.

Softness

When choosing yarn for these caps remember the sensitivity of the patient's head. Any soft yarn will do but some of the favorites of patients are:

-- Wildflower DK - Plymouth Yarn Company
-- Polo - Skacel
-- Sirdar's Baby Care - KFI
-- Encore - Plymouth Yarn Company
-- Caron Simply Soft
-- Lion Brand Pound of Love

All of these very soft yarns are cotton and acrylic blends. When knitting the caps, please also consider color. Choose some colors that are neutrals the patients can wear with different outfits and not be conspicuous. Also, choose some fun colors. Different patients have different personalities. Some will not want their chemo caps noticed at all while others couldn't care less and enjoy fun caps

Little or no texture

Whatever pattern you choose for your cap, choose one without texture. Make the stitches as smooth as possible so it doesn't make any uncomfortable "bumps" on the patient's head.

Also, please remember that some cancer patients wear caps so their baldness doesn't show. With this in mind, don't use a shell stitch, V-stitch or a granny-square cap as they have holes.

No seams

Caps that knit in the round are the best, as they have no seams. When your head is sensitive, a seam can become quite uncomfortable.

Learning how to knit chemo caps for cancer patients is greatly appreciated. Soft, seamless, and without texture are the three most often requested features cancer patients request. By learning how to knit caps with these features, your charity knitting will not go unappreciated.