Knitting

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Knitted Knockers! Coming To Your Area….

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Knitted prosthetic breasts for mastectomy patients. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Yet, when placed in a bra, these knitted breasts take the shape and feel of a real breast. They are lighter and more comfortable than silicone prosthetic breasts. The knitted fabric breathes and prevents the heat rash experienced by many women wearing the silicone ones.

Did you know that just one silicone prosthetic breast costs between $300 and $500?! Without health insurance, they are out of the reach of most breast cancer survivors. Even those with insurance are limited to a new prosthetic breast every two years. If it springs a leak that is not covered by the warranty, you are out of luck.

With a knitted breast, you can have a different one for every day of the week. Perhaps add a little embroidery for that tattoo you always wanted!

It is our goal to get knitting knocker groups started in as many places as possible to  reach as many women as possible.

If you’ve started a group, let them know! We’ll post your information so that knitters and survivors can find each other. From The Knitting Experience Cafe.

Comments

  1. Well I just had to laugh my head off at this post’s title, in all it’s seriousness there is the humour too.. I am so pleased that something so seriously can be given in such a humorous way.. It certainly caught my attention!!

    I will be sharing this post, its such a fabulous idea.. I can’t image women who have lost breast, but I can share this post so that people are aware that a ‘knitted knocker’ is a really practical idea…

    Thank you for sharing I hope this post spread more awareness.

  2. what a fabulous idea. I am going to share it with my knitting buddies, as well as the local Breast Cancer groups here in Sarasota.. maybe we can get a group going!

  3. I love it. How do I get more information and patterns on these? I know 3 yarn stores in my area and would love to try to get them involved.
    Sandi
    impatientcajun.blogspot.com

  4. I just had a double mastectomy in November and and currently undergoing Chemo through July – then hopefully reconstruction. In the mean time I did get silicone prostheses and they were $400 PER SIDE! It is true they are hot and heavy… I imagine it will be worse in the summer. These are actually a very sweet idea. I think they would be good for wearing at home so I don’t look disfigured but can still be comfy. Thanks for all who help ladies in need. Blessings to you all.

Have you read?

Book Review: The Knitting Book

There are two schools of thought when it comes to instructional books about knitting. Either focus in one particular technique or kind of knitting (stranded knitting, say, or brioche) or try to cover a little bit of everything in a reference book that knitters will use throughout their careers. 

The Knitting Book by Frederica Patmore and Dr. Vikki Haffenden aims to be the second kind. The subtitle is: a step-by-step guide to creating imaginative projects for the home and to wear. I’m not sure it does that, exactly, but it does include a quick look at a lot of different techniques and stitch patterns you might use in your projects. 

A “guide to creating imaginative projects” sounds to me like it’s about design, but this book is not. There’s 1/3 of a page about altering patterns that only talks about how to add length to a sleeve and adjust where the increases go.

There’s nothing about measuring your body (the section on choosing a size in a pattern only suggests measuring a garment you already own), general garment construction, ease or stitch pattern multiples. The section on gauge (which is the last third of the page with choosing a garment size and altering patterns, discussed above) just says to knit a swatch, block and measure it to compare to a pattern, with no discussion on how you might use your swatch to design your own project or alter a pattern to meet your gauge. 

If you ignore the subtitle, what you will find is a lot of information about different kinds of knitting and various techniques you might want to try on your projects. There are 20 cast ons and 15 bind off options, for instance, all discussed before you learn how to knit or purl. (Another quibble I have with this book is the order in which things are presented, but that’s relatively minor.)

You’ll find quick hits on increases and decreases, twists and cables, lace, colorwork, textured effects like fisherman’s rib and brioche, loops, mosaic knitting, double knitting, decorative stitches, shadow knitting, bias knitting, mitered squares, entrelac and more. There are tips for selvedge stitches, knitting with beads, adding buttonholes, picking up stitches and more. 

A few patterns at the back give knitters a taste of some of the techniques included, but they’re not rated by skill level and the first one is a bias knit gradient scarf worked in six different colors of mohair, which isn’t a thing I’d wish on any beginner. 

And I guess that’s maybe what my issue with the book is. I don’t know if it’s meant for beginners and it doesn’t seem to, either. I feel like this book would be overwhelming to new knitters and doesn’t really give you a place to start or all the information you might need to do projects well.

The variety of techniques included is fun, and there are also stitch patterns in the back you can use on your own projects, but again it doesn’t really provide any guidance for how to design your own projects so I don’t know how helpful all of that is. 

I want to like books like this because having one reference that helps you with a lot of different things is great, I’m just not sure this is the one. If you can find it at your library or local book store and flip through it before buying, I think that would be a great idea to see if it’s a book that would be helpful for you. 

And if you have this book and love it please let me know! I’m sure it’s good for someone I’m just not sure who. 

About the book: 336 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by DK. Suggested retail price $40.