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I’m very honoured to be one of the designers for this year’s Cancer challenge. For the second year in a row, I have a very meaningful design to share with you. Last year, I chose to represent the Prostate Cancer, since my dad is a Prostate Cancer survivor, officially in remission for a couple of years now. Yay! I invite you to read last year’s blog post to learn more about it: Cancer Challenge 2019

This year, though, this challenge is very sweet and sour for me. Since my family is, once again, struck with Cancer. But this time, the future is very incertain as we are still waiting for my sister’s results to know if the cancer is completely gone or not.

Without further ado, here’s the design.

Helix

Thank you to Colorista for providing the yarn for this project! Kits for this pattern are available! Each kit makes TWO Helix hat. Quantities are limited: CLICK HERE

Here’s my sister Nancy, modelling the Helix hat made in her honour. Everything in this design has a specific signification that I want to talk to you about but let’s start with the Challenge itself.

What is the Cancer Challenge?

Every October, Christine from Sweet Potato 3 hosts an event called the Cancer Challenge where everyday during the month, a different designer shares, for free!, a hat pattern. You are welcome to download as many designs as you want during the month, but by doing so, you take a pledge to make at least one hat of each download. Then you’ll have to send those hats to a cancer association, to a hospital, or to somebody who has (or had!) a type of cancer. And, if you want to share your creations with us, you are invited to use the hashtag #crochetcancerchallenge on social medias. The goal this year is to make and donate around 75 THOUSAND hats. Holy stitch!

What cancer did you choose to represent this year?

I chose the Thyroid cancer, for obvious reasons. You see, earlier this year, my sister Nancy (on the picture) had to have a surgery to get her thyroid gland removed as a cancer was found there. The surgery went well. That being said, they still have to analyse blood samples to see if they succesfully got rid of it all or not. And it is beyond stressful to wait for the call.

Why did you choose those colours?

All the designers that are a part of this challenge are encouraged to use the colour of the chosen cancer awareness ribbon for their hat. After a little google research, this is the picture that stuck with me the most. The Thyroid cancer awareness ribbon is tricoloured. Sometimes, there’s blue in the ribbon, and no purple. And since I wasn’t sure of the official colours, I went with this pretty picture.

What about the motif?

With now one main colour and 3 accent colours, I wasn’t sure how to make a hat that would stand out. Inspired by the picture above, I searched for Survivor and I found this pretty Survivor symbol here. Because I really loved the crossing lines in the middle, I knew I wanted to make some sort of celtic knot. After a bit of brainstorming, a very geometric braid – to highlight the three beautiful accent colours! – made sense to me.

Why is it called Helix?

My friend actually found the name for me. She thought the motif looked a little bit like a DNA helix, and I couldn’t agree more! And since, you know, cancer and DNA are intertwined, I thought the name was perfect.

How is your sister?

Well, as you can imagined, it’s not easy for her. But because I hate to talk for others, I asked her to write a text that I could share with you all, about how she’s doing, what happened, and how she’s coping with everything.

Here’s what Nancy has to say:

« Here I am after more than 6 months post-op. The scar looks good, it’s almost invisible. Despite the high percentage of success for this type of surgery, it’s like there’s a black cloud over my head. My 6 months checkup still hasn’t happened yet. So I don’t know if they really removed it all. I try to stay positive, even while being in the unknown, but it’s pretty rough sometimes. My kids cheer me up, telling me everything’s gonna be okay. »

How do I download the Helix pattern?

If you made it this far: thank you so much. This challenge is so important to me, it’s a cause very dear to my heart. Don’t forget: if you download the Helix pattern, you promise to make at least one to donate. Cancer affects so many people, and every donation will bring a little bit of warmth (both literally and figuratively!) to somebody that went through or is going through tough times.

On Ravelry only!
To get it for free, use the code : CancerChallenge
I will not refund accidental purchases, so make sure the code applied correctly to your cart before proceeding to the transaction.
This promotion will end on October 10th, 11:59pm EST.

More links about the Cancer Challenge:

• Information explaining what the Crochet Cancer Challenge is, click HERE.
• What type of hat should I make? What Sizes? Where do I get the patterns? Click HERE.
• Yarn Recommendations to use for the hats, click HERE.
• Where should I donate my hats, click HERE.
• A fun start early project you can add to your hats, click HERE.
• Challenge others to join and get tags you can print for your hats, click HERE.

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If you like this pattern, and would like to support me, here’s how:

• Visit my portfolio
• Follow me on Instagram
• Add the Helix hat in your Ravelry’s favourites
• Follow my blog by clicking the Follow button in the bottom right corner of your screen. That way you will receive an email every time I share a new post
• Follow me on Facebook

How many hats did you make so far?

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