Local breast cancer survivor is making 'Knitted Knockers' for other survivors

BELLINGHAM -- October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so it’s the perfect time for a local charity to spread the word about their efforts to help breast cancer survivors.

The ladies who gathered at Apple Yarns in Bellingham look like a typical knitting group, until you see what they’re knitting. ‘Knitted Knockers’ are handmade prosthetics going to breast cancer survivors who need something to help them feel whole again.

Barb Demorest remembers the first knocker she got after undergoing a mastectomy in 2011.

“I took that and put it in my regular bra. It was light, it was soft, it was huggable, it was perfect.”

It was Barb’s doctor who first told her about the alternative to expensive silicone prosthetics. Her friend Phyllis Kramer found a pattern online, and knocked one out in a few hours.

“The knockers truly put a joy into Barb’s life,” she says. “It all of a sudden put a smile on her face at a really dark time in her life.”

Breast cancer survivor makes `Knitted Knockers` for others

But it wasn’t enough for Barb to feel good about herself again. She wanted to help other survivors. So she started recruiting knitters, asking them to donate their yarn and their time. It wasn’t hard to find volunteers who had been touched by cancer.

“When someone is going through breast cancer, you want to help them but you don’t know how,” Barb says. “This is a tangible way you can help.”

Over the last three years, Phyllis has knit close to 300 knockers. But she doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

“Three-hundred is nothing, nothing compared to the number of mastectomies done a year.”

That’s why Barb wants to spread the word about her charity. Her dream is to have knitting groups helping survivors around the world.

“I think that’s what made the difference in my recovery,” she says. “The vision, the enthusiasm, and the excitement of looking out, rather than it being all about me.”

Knitted Knockers are free of charge. Barb provides them to doctors’ offices and cancer clinics. She also takes orders online. For more information, go to www.knittedknockers.org.