A friend has inoperable pancreatic cancer that has metastasized to his peritoneum. He’s probably not going the chemo route, which means he won’t lose his hair along with, eventually, losing his life.

But there’s not that much hair to start with. ;) And he lives in Cardiff. Cardiff, Wales--where the high temperature for the first week in June is forecast to be about 60, with nights in the low 50s or high 40s. (For you binumerical folks: 60F=16C, 50F=10C.)

So I’m making a plain, slouchy hat for Mike--but not too slouchy. I don’t want so much weight on the back that it pulls the hat off his head. And it’s plain because in all the photos I’ve seen of Mike, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him wear patterns in his shirts or sweaters. And it’s fingering weight (rather than something bulkier and faster to knit) because I want the hat to be lightweight.

When Mike’s gone, I hope Olive (wife) or Ricardo (son) will keep the hat and wear it sometimes--not just in memory of Mike, but in memory of how much his friends loved him.

Mike died 19 January 2015.

Issues with my first attempt at this hat: I stopped at 7” before the decreases, and that’s not enough slouch. And my stitch gauge was noticeably all over the place. (Note to self: When you knit lying down, your knitting looks like crap.) And I glitched up the decreases. I have plenty of yarn, so I’ve just started a new hat with the second skein, and I’ll go back later, rip and fix the first hat.

I accidentally grabbed the wrong needle to start, though, so the ribbing is done on the US5 instead of the US3 the pattern called for. I don’t think this is going to be a problem, though. And my stitches are much neater and more even this time.

Done and mailed--without a photo. Just a slouchy white hat. And Mike is doing pretty well so far.