Stitch 'n Ride Blog

Thanks for your Comments and Chemo Caps!

2008-03-21T22:37:42Z

Thanks to everyone who completed the survey about our 2008 Stitch 'n Ride event! Overall, we're pleased to see the positive comments, as well as the critiques--most respondents indicated that having flexibility in return times as "important" or "extremely important," and nearly 92% of respondents said the same about having a special, dedicated train for knitters and crocheters. Your comments really help us, so thank you!

I know many were curious to know more about the results of Capitol Corridor's first ever Chemo Cap Drive...[drum roll, please] We collected 370 chemo caps on the Stitch 'n Ride train!

Our team was just overwhelmed with the generosity of our knitting and crocheting passengers. The caps were all lovely, and so many had intricate stitching, beautiful yarns, and happy colors. Thank you to those of you who stuck around to see us hand the caps off to our friends at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Many of you were anxious to get to Stitches, of course, but those who stuck around got to see all the different caps! Kathryn Longtin, an LLS honored patient and Team in Training participant, immediately donned one of colorful caps. Forrest Williams, Board Chair for the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority was also on hand to give the chemo caps over to LLS. We are sure that the patients who are currently in chemotherapy will be so thrilled to get such lovely hats to keep them warm.

Another Stitch 'n Ride Come and Gone...

2008-02-26T23:56:11Z

We hope you all had a great time onboard this year's Stitch 'n Ride train! It was great to see a fabulous turnout once again! Seemed like this year's Stitches West had more booths than ever! It took all of Sunday for my feet to recover.

We hope you all enjoyed the goodie bags--thank you to all of our wonderful sponsors, especially Chronicle Books (for the deck 'o' knitting projects), CRAFT Magazine (for the mag with that way-cool knit Caution Tape scarf on the cover) and Team In Training (for the lip balm that came in handy waiting at the windy platform).

An online survey should be coming your way, if you bought tickets for the Stitch 'n Ride train. We'd love to hear back from you about your experience this year.

More to come. I'll write about the results of our chemo cap drive tomorrow.

Hi everyone,

2008-02-19T02:13:05Z

Hope you are looking forward this Saturday's Stitch 'n Ride as much as we are here at Capitol Corridor!

I wanted to show you my most recent finished object (FO), which is the pink hat you see here. The hat is for an 11-year old girl who was recently diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) and has just started her chemotherapy treatments.

The hat is from a Stitch Diva pattern, but the yarn I used wouldn't felt, so I didn't make the brim. Instead, I added a flower.

My next project will be to knit a chemo cap for our own chemo cap drive that we are holding for this Saturday's Stitch 'n Ride train. Not sure what pattern I will use, but surely I have plenty of yarn in my stash to make several hats. Now I just have to find the time!

I'm sure you have plenty of yarn in your stash too, so I hope you will join our chemo cap drive, and knit or crochet some warmth for someone else! You can knit one ahead of time, or knit one en route to Stitches West. Either way, a knit or crocheted chemo cap is your entry into the much-anticipated prize drawing that we hold on board.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training folks will be waiting for us in Santa Clara as we offboard the train. We hope to have a train full of caps to hand over to them!

See you soon!

Knit for a Cause, and Knit to Win!!

2008-02-18T02:52:32Z

Every year onboard our annual Stitch 'n Ride train, Capitol Corridor gives out door prize tickets for fabulous prizes generously donated by our sponsors. This year, we've teamed up with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society(r) (LLS) to promote knitting for a good cause by hosting a chemo cap drive to provide warm hats for patients currently undergoing chemotherapy. Please help us with this cause by bringing a finished knit or crocheted chemo cap when you board the Stitch 'n Ride train. Your finished cap is your ticket into our great onboard prize giveaway, and is the only way to enter to win. Hats can be made for either adults or children. And if you don't know where to start, you can click on one of the links below for a chemo cap pattern and guidelines:

Bev's Country Cottage.com - Many free patterns for adults and kids.

Knitting Pattern Central - An online directory of free knitting patterns

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training(r) program will collect the donated hats when we arrive in Santa Clara and distribute them to patients currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments in the San Francisco Bay Area. Please join us in crafting for a good cause!

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society "honored patient" Lea Morrison

Here's an update from an LLS "honored patient" Lea Morrison. Lea was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) after a routine doctor's visit in January 2006. She and her family recently moved to Seattle to undergo a stem cell transplant. She keeps a regular journal of her progress on the CaringBridge website. This recent excerpt gives true meaning to our chemo cap knitting drive...

"It has been a VERY good week since I last updated! I am feeling well and saw the team of doctors on Monday and everything seems to be going in the right direction. Day #50 marks the halfway point post-transplant until we hopefully get to return home to San Francisco. The doctors put me back on the pill form of prednisone and we are *trying* to start a slow taper again and hopefully the graft vs. host disease will behave itself as we lower the dose. Many people after transplant are on prednisone for YEARS so I need to be patient. My mom is here and she has been such a help, comfort, and companion. She has been a true caregiver in every sense of the word.. I have attached a photo that shows how truly bald I am. I probably won't even START to grow hair for a bunch of months - a reminder of the high doses of chemo I received and how truly toxic it is!"

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services; visit http://www.lls.org for more information.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training(r) (TNT) is the world's largest endurance sports training program. For the past 20 years, TNT has trained people to run or walk full and half marathons or participate in triathlons and century (100-mile) bike rides. To learn more about Team In Training, visit teamintraining.org.

Tickets are now on sale for our annual Stitch 'n Ride train to Stitches West 2008. To purchase your tickets, please click on the link above. Special tickets are required to board and be part of the Stitch 'n Ride festivities.