A "Fun" Prosthesis
Posted 10/23/2012
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First, thank you to Barbara for sending on this article from the Fargo/Grand Forks paper. While I am at it, thank you to Barbara for sending so many important articles; her range is incredible as this story proves. It is one thing to stay on top of news from BreastCancer.org and totally another to be alert to stories from North Dakota.
This newspaper story is about "Tit Bits," knitted breast prostheses that were created first by a survivor and knitter in Canada. I have known about them for several years, having first been alerted by someone who had one. Here is the link to her website: www.titbits.ca. It is full of information and delightful, often funny, comments and pictures. You can order custom-made tit bits from here or download the instructions and knit your own. I, sadly, can't knit. Years and years ago, I tried to knit a scarf, which is said to be about the easiest possible project. I remember that it had gaps and holes and many irregularities, and I disliked the sensation of the yarn pulling through my fingers. I am delighted that other people are more talented than I, and that wonderful things are imagined and created by knitters. Fortunately, I have a couple of dear friends who can knit and they have made a few of these for me: I have a red mohair one and a purple one with rhinestones and a black and white one with decorative feathers. Much more fun than the standard medical-like Bandaid colored ones. More seriously, for large breasted women, these can be particularly wonderful as they are lightweight, while normal prostheses can be quite heavy. Another advantage for everyone is that tit bits can be worn in any bra, not just the usually ugly functional ones with pockets. If you can knit, whether or not you have a need for a tit bit, I encourage you to download the instructions and consider making one for a woman who will happily use it.
Filling a Need: Knitters Create Prosthetics for Breast Cancer Survivors
From macaroni necklaces to handcrafted furniture, many of us know the special joy that comes from making something specially to give to someone else. Not as many of us know how it feels to make something that in some ways, will be a part of someone else something they're very much missing.
That's the driving force behind a new project that's galvanizing knitters and crocheters in the Fargo area, just in time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. You can see them all over town, with their needles and crochet hooks, including at the recent Bras on Broadway event at the Civic Center.
And the project small enough to hold in your hand means tackling something that might not have occurred to even the most dedicated do-it-yourself crafter.
"Tit Bits, they take about two hours," says Keatha McLeod, of Prairie Yarns. She's working on what appears to be taking shape as a blue denimstriped prosthetic breast, somewhere between an A and a B cup.
The instructions, from the Canadian cancer survivor who developed the pattern after being dissatisfied with standard prosthetic breasts, say unlike commercial lingeries sizes, human breasts don't come in standard sizes. "One at a time is fine. It's much more rare to have a bilateral mastectomy."
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