When the world faced a shortage of PPE back in April 2020, countless community groups and businesses came out of the folds to help their fellow neighbour, and one such group was Oakley Stitchers.
Now the group of 60 active and skilled volunteers have embarked on a new but just as important mission; producing special handmade breast prostheses for women who have undergone mastectomies or other procedures to the breast, also known as knitted knockers.
Oakley Stitchers work with Knitted Knockers, a US based charity, who have provided over 270,000 knitted knockers to women in need all over the world, helping replace the usually heavy, sweaty and uncomfortable prosthetic.
We caught up with Caroline Worley to find out a little bit more about what knitted knockers are, and the group of volunteers who, since 1st January, have sent out over 100 sets of knockers across the UK.
Talking about the knitted alternatives, Caroline explains: “The knockers are used in place of the plastic alternatives which can stick to and pull your skin, and that’s the biggest feedback we get, that these prosthetics are heavy and start to sweat. You can imagine a lot of ladies find them rather uncomfortable, especially if you have scar tissue.”
The group work on two different styles of knockers, one being the most comfortable ‘day 2 day’ knocker, which is crafted to be bespoke and made up of 100% cotton wool to prevent any itchiness or irritation and stuffed with hyper-allergenic stuffing to keep you as comfortable as possible.
The other design the group can provide are known as ‘Aquaknockers’, for those of you who are swimmers/sporty. These are a little different as they are made from a soft acrylic wool which is happier getting wet than the ‘cotton wool’ they use for ‘day 2 day’ knockers. They are also stuffed with netting to make sure they don’t act as a brick in a pool and dry quickly.
Explaining how Oakley Stitchers first got involved with Knitted Knockers, Caroline tells us: “We held a table top sale and one of the visitors to the stall asked me if I had ever heard of Knitted Knockers and whether it would be something we would look into doing, I had a quick look and absolutely loved what I saw.”