My mother-in-law has ovarian cancer. We found out last night. She starts chemo today.

Being true to my tendency to do things on a large scale, I have a list of knitting I’d like to do for her.

An Esther Williams hat in something soft and delightful. What I like about this hat as a chemo hat is that the scalloped edge is feminine and I think it’s a softer way to frame a face with no hair than a straight line or smooth edge.

A small neck scarf that buttons around the neck and lays on the upper chest for warmth. (I have design ideas playing around in my head already). My mother-in-law is always cold, even when she isn’t sick and a small scarf like that really helps. However, I don’t know in what way chemotherapy makes you feel icky. Maybe having something around her neck will be irritating? I’ll let her decide.

Fingerless mitts. I know that the man I knit a hat and mitt combo for when he was in the hospital with cancer really appreciated them.

Warm socks, however I’m not going to tackle that on my own. I’ll ask her if she wants them, and what she’d want. Slipper socks, sock weight/normal socks, thick and cushy lounging socks….

Finally, a Log Cabin Lap Blanket. I’ve always loved the pictures I’ve seen of these, but haven’t yet had reason enough to knit that much garter stitch. The neat thing about this blanket is that I think the girls would want to help, and this seems like a great blanket to have them help with. Plus, it can be cheery and colorful in a way that wearable items can’t be. At least, I can’t see my mother-in-law wearing something overly colorful. She likes blue. And blue is mellow.

So, that’s what I’ve got swirling around in my brain. I don’t know how many colors to get for the blanket, how much of each color, how to arrange them, whether or not I actually NEED the pattern or if I can figure it out on my own. It doesn’t look hard… What do you think?

Her prognosis is good. She said that they said that it is very treatable.