Operation Marigold: Get Your Hooks Ready

When someone near or dear to us is confronted with a medical crisis, our natural reaction is to want to "do something". A prayer, a phone call, an e-mail, a meal, a card, or a hug - something, anything - that will at once relieve our feelings and let the suffering one know that we care. If we can't make the problem go away, we can at least try to lighten their load and make their dark path a little brighter.

Enter Marigold, a goat on a mission. (You may have noticed her button on my sidebar.) Marigold's goal? To...

You see, Marigold's human caregiver, the Goatmother, is currently battling breast cancer. (You can read about her journey here.)

For some weeks now, Snowcatcher and I have been pondering how we could show support for the Goatmother, join Marigold in her quest, and butt some hay out of cancer. While Snowcatcher and I may not be very good at butting, we do know how to put our heads together - and, as it happens, we both love to design crochet patterns.

Can you see where this is heading? Hat patterns, of course! And with the patterns, a hat drive - for whether you're going through chemo, or just going around butting things (like cancer), a soft and pretty head covering can make all the difference.

Both Snowcatcher and I will be posting free hat patterns to honour our friend the Goatmother, and through her, everyone who is battling cancer. For those who would like to participate in the hat drive, we'll include some helpful information on how and where to donate hats for chemo patients. We'll also be starting a Flickr group so we can all post pictures of our donated hats.

So stay tuned, and get your crochet hooks ready. Operation Marigold is about to commence!

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