Knitted Knockers Next Door

If you knit the odds are good you know about Knitted Knockers, but in case I have a few non-knitters reading this let me explain. Knitted Knockers is an organization supporting and promoting breast prosthetics to cancer survivors. The organization also encourages knitters to create the prosthetic so they can be given to users for free.

Mom introduced me to this and I wrote about it here in November 2011. It was in conjunction with the good works Mom does by knitting baby caps, prayer shawls as well as knitted knockers for her local hospital.

From Knitted Knockers website

The PBS station out of Seattle does short local interest stories and one recently was about the person who turned the knitting of breast prosthetics into an organized affair, Barbara Demorest. Barbara had a complete mastectomy several years ago and due to complications during surgery was not able to have reconstruction done. Her local doctor suggested she check out a website where a free pattern was available to knit a pair of prosthetics. Barbara didn't know how to knit, but a friend made her her first Knockers and she was hooked.

Barbara Demorest - photo provided on Knitted Knockers website

Barbara contacted the designer of the free pattern and gained permission to use it to help create an organization. It started small out of her home; but over time the organization grew to fulfilling over one hundred requests per week. It had to move out of Barbara's living room and now uses the knitting space once per week in Apple Yarns found in Bellingham, Washington. Yes, the organization for Knitted Knockers started just 1.5 hours south of Vancouver. Watch Barbara's entire story told by In Close, here.

Photo credit: Bellingham Herald

Barbara Demorest took the darkest part of her life, learned from it and decided to do something positive for others who found themselves in a similar situation. What an inspiration! If you want to know more about the organization, click here. There is plenty of information about making knockers for both knitters and crocheters, creating local subsidiaries and more background information.

Until that very short special, I didn't realize how close I lived to the epicenter of such good work. PBS, thank you for enlightening me, again.

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