Bolivian Knitters Help Heal Hearts

The indigenous Aymara women of Bolivia have knitting as part of their heritage, but now they are able to use old skills in a new way by helping make medical devices to save the lives of children born with holes in their hearts.

The device, known as Nit Occlud, was designed by Franz Freudenthal, a cardiologist in La Paz. It looks like a little top hat knit out of wire and can be made in different sizes to block a hole in the heart.

It’s made of nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy, and can be collapsed and inserted into the body through a catheter. It’s only expanded when it gets where it needs to go, making the procedure minimally invasive and inexpensive, which is a must in Bolivia, the poorest nation in South America and a place without enough cardiac doctors to treat kids with heart problems, which can also be more serious in the high altitudes.

It takes about two hours working in a clean room to knit a device, and knitter Daniela Mendoza told the BBC she’s glad to be able to help.

“We are very happy, we are doing something for someone so they can live,” she said.

[Photo via BBC.]

Next Pattern:

If you’re looking for a sweater knitting pattern that uses up some of your stash and allows you to make just the sweater you want, the Marlina Rib by Shay Johson might be just the thing.

It’s worked with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together to make a DK weight gauge, so you can use the same two yarns throughout or change one or both regularly for an even more colorful look.

The pattern has options to make it either a crewneck or a henley style with buttons, tapered or relaxed sleeves, and a straight hemline or a split hem with buttons (which sounds so cute if you do the henley with split hem and match the buttons on both parts).

It’s also knit from the top down so you can make the body and the sleeves as long as you want. There are 10 sizes available in the pattern, with a chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 81.5 to 172.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 4-6 inches/10-15 cm of positive ease at the chest.

The pattern page on Ravelry includes tons of measurements and yardage estimates so you can make sure you’ll get a good fit for your body before you even buy the pattern. Shay also shows a few variations of the sweater so you can see how different options look before you decide how you want to put them together.

The stitch pattern is 1×2 ribbing, which is really easy to do and gives a look almost like fisherman’s rib that’s relaxed and easy to wear.

This sweater looks like a great option for people who are somewhat new to sweater knitting or those who love to have lots of customization options (because it’s like getting multiple sweater patterns in one!).

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself at Ravelry.

[Photo: Shay Johnson]

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