Volunteers get together on the second Sunday of every month at Knitique the Yarn Boutique to knit caps for chemotherapy patients. Photos by Rebecca Maston,
Elk Grove Citizen.
By Shannon Savage
Citizen Staff Writer
In a world where war, famine and disease are running rampant some may wonder what they can do to help. Giving something back to the local community is always a good start.
One Elk Grove knitting shop owner is doing just that.
Danielle Bowen, owner of Knitique, has been encouraging residents to come together and knit caps for cancer patients to help combat the outward effects of chemotherapy.
“I decided to focus on one project that was smaller and meant a lot to me,” Bowen said. “You meet people everyday that are touched by cancer.”
Even since the shop opened Bowen has helped out customers with cancer.
“We’ve seen them through the battle of breast cancer or other types of cancer,” Bowen said.
The shop, located at 8741 Elk Grove Blvd., has been catering to the needs of chemotherapy patients since it opened two years ago.
“It speaks to everyone,” Bowen said. “I’ve had family members who have had cancer who lost their hair and it was just something that I’ve done since I was a child.”
So far the small shop in the Williamson Shopping Center has made 1,979 chemo caps.
“Kind of the theme of our shop is a community based knit shop,” Bowen said. “So we have lots of community based events. Even in our kids classes we’re teaching them caps so they can donate for the process.”
Although Bowen donates most of the hats to Sutter Cancer Center she makes sure there is still a supply in the shop.
“The word is getting around that we have them so people will come in who are going through breast cancer or other cancers and they can pick from the hats that we have,” Bowen said. “So it’s not always in the hospital. They can come here and see who’s making them.”
Women from all around Elk Grove fill the small shop to knit chemo caps and help out the community.
“I learned about it coming in to get my yarn,” said Diane Denman, who has been making caps for about a year. “So when I have some down time I usually have one going.”
After having friends who were diagnosed with cancer, Denman said she wanted to help.
“They all say, ‘my head is cold,’” said Denman, who has made five caps. “This is one way I can help. It feels good to know that maybe a child, maybe it makes it a little easier for them.”
Others started doing chemo caps on their own and then got involved with Bowen’s shop.
“Mainly I made them for people that I knew,” said Blythe Myers, who has made three caps.
Getting involved locally was also a big draw for Myers.
“I do a lot of knitting for a shelter that is in Alaska and I thought it would be nice to do something for somebody here,” Myers said. “Someone who I worked with, his wife had cancer. I made (her) a cap and she wore it and liked it. She said she felt she could go out into public and people weren’t staring at her. People asked her where she got the hat from it was like a fashion item, they didn’t know that she didn’t have any hair.”
Even workers in the shop have gotten into the spirit of making chemo caps.
“I think in the long run everything comes back around,” said Joann Delaney, who has been working in the shop for two years. “If you help someone they help someone as a result of that. And sometime when you need help, someone will help you. I think if we all learned that everyone profits.”
People can get involved in many different ways with the chemo caps.
“They can donate yarn,” Bowen said. “That’s something that everyone has to have because we have some older people who can’t afford the yarn. So they actually pick up the yarn and then take it home.”
There are also chemo kits that people can pick up, which include everything needed to make the caps.
“They can bring back the finished ones or they can join one of our community events,” Bowen said.
Interested parties are also encouraged to join knitters at the shop the second Sunday of every month for Knit For A Cause or every Thursday for an open knitting session.
“Anytime the shop’s open people are welcome to come in,” Bowen said.
No matter what kind of hat you make, knitted or crocheted, Bowen said the feeling of helping the community is priceless.
“I just think no matter what business you’re in being able to enrich other people’s lives enriches your own life,” Bowen said. “The more you donate and the more you give to the community the more you get back personally.”
For more information about chemo caps of Knitique call 714-7719.
