One in Eight *

I've recently finished a stealth project that's been in the works for a while. I'm unveiling it today, as October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I created it for an annual art exhibit here in Juneau: Bra Dazzler. It's a fundraiser for a local non-profit, Team Survivor Perseverance, that provides fitness and exercise programs to women affected by cancer.

It is totally unlike anything I have ever done before. I tend to knit wearable things, and I don't think of myself as artsy.


Let's just say that there was a serendipitous convergence of top-down hat knitting and hearing about this exhibit last year. Then I went to see the exhibit and there was such a wide range of styles and materials employed, that I was emboldened and decided I was brave enough to give it a go. I started working on a prototype last spring, and once I had it figured out, I began slowly knitting breasts. They were great little take-along projects, and I kept them going in the background.

When we returned from our last trip of the summer, in August, I realized the deadline for exhibit submissions was earlier than I expected. So I went into high gear and started churning out knitted breasts. Turns out, the knitting was the easy part. Nick helped me figure out how to assemble it. (Thanks, honey!) In the end, it's pretty darn close to what I envisioned when I started out; that makes me very happy.

One in Eight
Created for the Bra Dazzler 2008 Exhibition in Juneau, Alaska
On display at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum
October 3-November 1

Yarn: Cascade 220; shades of grey, black
and kool-aid dyed lemon-lime
Needles: US size 5 dpns and US size 3 circulars
Size: Canvas measures 30" x 24."
Each breast is approximately 5" in diameter.
Most surprising this about this project: Think about it .. 16 knitted breasts .. eight pairs .. brought to you by a knitter who has trouble getting a second sock finished!

*The risk, if you are a woman, of getting breast cancer in your lifetime.