Knitting for soldiers during WWI & WWII

Aynaria 2 Comments

Did you know that Knit Your Bit, was an American Red Cross slogan?

I learned about this several years ago. And since that time, I’ve collected some memorabilia from that time period.

The American Red Cross used the slogan, Knit Your Bit, during World War 1 and World War II. A creative way to get the American citizens to support their troops.

 

I always hated those super long knitting needles, like the ones shown in above poster. It’s no surprise that I embraced the smaller needles, and finally moved to circular knitting needles for all my knitting; flat and straight.

From my research, I learned that many women and a few children knit for US troops. I imagine some men did also.

Children knitting for the War Relief League

 

In  1918 the Seattle School Bulletin printed a patriotic knitting song:

Johnnie, get your yarn, get your yarn, get your yarn;
Knitting has a charm, has a charm, has a charm,
See us knitting two by two,Boys in Seattle like it too.
Hurry every day, don’t delay, make it pay.
Our laddies must be warm, not forlorn mid the storm.
Hear them call from o’re the sea,
‘Make a sweater, please for me.’
Over here everywhere,We are knitting for the boys over there,

It’s a sock or a sweater, or even better
To do your bit and knit a square.

 

The American Red Cross, even supplied a sock knitting kit that included yarn and a pattern to knit regulation military socks. It seems that a lot of people knit for US Troops. The American Red Cross said…

If the Guinness Book of World Records had a category for the biggest knitting party of all time, the winner would be the American Red Cross and its millions of volunteers who “Knit Their Bit” during World War II to support American troops fighting around the world.

The Red Cross played a critical role in outfitting troops during World War II with warm socks and sweaters. Nearly 7.5 million Red Cross volunteers supported the war effort then, many of them knitters. The Red Cross provided the materials, and volunteers came back with thousands and thousands of socks, sweaters, “sea boots,” and gloves.

Each military pattern was designed to be compatible with soldier’s and sailor’s uniforms and were required to be knitted in olive drab or navy blue.

“If the garments did not pass inspection, they were ripped out and redone,” said Steve Shulman, executive director of the American Red Cross Museum. “Any leftover yarn or rejected pieces were returned to the Red Cross and recycled for use by another knitter, and not a bit of it went to waste.”
Upon passing inspection, each item had a label sewn into the garment reading, “Gift of the American People thru the American Red Cross.”

I’m involved with numerous charity organization, one of which is Operation Write Home. Recently, I’ve been thinking about knitting some balaclavas for US soldiers. I really must take a better photo of the knitted balaclava I made for my father. He seems to love it, and it looks great when he wears his hat. I does a great job protecting his head, face, and neck from the cold.

I know that balaclavas can be worn by US soldiers. I’m unsure if they can wear them with their military attire, but they can wear them when their off duty. Now, I’m thinking of knitting a few for a few US soldiers.

I’ve sent a few boxes to soldiers after checking out some of the needs on AnySoldier. Sending items to those within the US military, is one way I can thank them for serving our country, and hopefully it lets them know that there are people at home thinking about them.

 

 

Imagine my surprise, when I stumbled upon one of Glen Miller’s songs; Knit One, Purl Two. Although much before my time,  I’ve heard several of his songs.

On December 15, 1944, Glen’s plane disappeared over the English Channel. He was on his was to entertain US troops in France, during World War II.

Glen Miller: Knit One, Purl Two

Knit one, purl two
This sweater, my darling,’s for you
While vigil you‘re keeping through rain and storm
This sweater will keep you warm
Purl two, knit one
Our trials I know have begun
And while you are fighting each battle through
My darling, my heart’s with you

I just left the cot where our little Todd
In sleep was smiling
He must have dreamed of you…

Knit one, purl two
My darling, whenever I’m blue
It’s comfort to know that when he’s a man
He‘ll be glad that his Dad came through
Knit one, purl two…

Resource: History Link
Photo Source: American Red Cross

Getting back into hand sewing

Aynaria 2 Comments

Today, my daughter and I attended an even at out Lutheran Church, one of the ladies (M) and I spent a lot of time talking about the various crafts she does, naturally crochet, knitting, and sewing came up from myself. It turns out she’s a sewer too, and we spent a bit of time swapping sewing stories, and talking about the various projects we’ve done.

Look at all the colorful spools of quilters thread.

 

It turns out she’s a hand quilter! Now that had me interested, since I’ve expressed an interst in it before, and I’ve slowly started acquiring tools needed for creating hand-sewn quilts. Even better, is that she designs her own quilts, now that I think about it I vaguely remember her bringing one of her hand sewn quilts to the quilters group, it was gorgeous.

Naturally I asked her a ton of questions, which she seemed more than happy to ask. I left the event so fired up, that I promptly purchased quilters thread. Now, I’m not the type that gets fired up, and lets a project languish. I’ll eagerly awaiting my thread. Tomorrow after church, or sometime early next week, I’ll stop by Jo An Fabrics and take a look at their fat quarters. According to M, they have a nice selection there.

This morning, I finished knitting a slouch beanie hat for one of my daughter’s Monster High dolls. I used some of the scrumptious yarn that arrived from Knit Picks. I’ll be sure to post a picture of the hat, and the lovely yarn soon.

 

How to double crochet three together (dc3tog)

Aynaria 5 Comments

I’ve really been enjoying Sarah’s scarf, which she’ll be calling windblown leaves, I think the name is appropriate.

During the process of creating this scarf my daughter got to see me “practice what I preach” , which is…Never give up! I faced a few obstacles (mainly because I’m not as knowledgeable about crochet as knitting) but I persevered and thanks to Sarah’s input, I’m a few steps away from the finish line. I just need to add the fringe. Additionally while crocheting this scarf, I learned a few more crochet techniques in the process. That’s just pure win!

 

I’m loving how this scarf looks, and it’s so warm!

 

When I took this project, I’d planned on using brightly colored yarns! However, when I frogged the scarf I opted for something completely different. The good news is, these colors look great on me. I must say, that I’ve enjoyed tracking my scarfs progress.

In hindsight I would have crocheted this with a thinner yarn like she used, but I’m really pleased with the thickness of the scarf, and I’ll definitely be making more of these scarves.

It’s  nice to know that the stitches I was doing to ‘get comfortable’ with crochet, actually have a name, right?

Crochet: Sometimes you have to keep trying

Aynaria 6 Comments

I’m pleased that the scarf I’ve been crocheting is actually looking like it’s supposed to, yes I fixed my silly crochet mistakes.

I’m loving this crochet design!

 

In the above picture, I still had made a few errors, on the third row, but I’ve since corrected them  and crocheted a few more rows. I’ll post pictures either later today, or sometime tomorrow. Sarah graciously extended the deadline for me, it’s due today, and I should be able to wrap it up once I arrive home from work today.

Finally placed a yarn order with KnitPicks

Aynaria 5 Comments

Ever since I purchased my set of Knit Picks Options nickel plated needles, I’ve been wanting to place a yarn order…

But I dragged my feet since I usually don’t order yarn online. When it comes to my fiber crafts, I’m a visual person, who loves touch what I’m going to purchase. Don’t worry yarn store owners, my hands are clean!  Naturally, I can’t do that when making an online purchase. However I determined that I’d stop making excuses and purchase KnitPicks yarn during the month of October, sort of a 42nd birthday gift for myself.

I drug my feet a little longer, but only missed that by two days, since I finally got around to placing my order this past Friday, November 2. I’m really pleased with my restraint, many of the items I wanted to order I put into my wishlist. If I like the quality of the yarn, you know I’ll be adding items from my wish list into a future purchase.

The lovely Nicole, gifted me with a (birthday) gift certificate, and so I used part of that for Felici Tiki which will be used to make socks for my daughter! Oh by the way, Nicole has a yarnie giveaway, so check out the post!  As you can see from the above screenshot, I also purchased more cables for my interchangeable needles. And I purchased a few knitting needles that will be seeing a lot of sock time, and eight skeins of yarn. Trust me, I wanted to purchase more, but I thought it would be wise to purchase a few, see how I like it before I go yarn crazy!

I might be getting this order tomorrow! Checking online tracking, I noticed my shipment is already at my local post office in Maryland.  Of course, I just want to squeeze the pretties, since I won’t be working on anything until my current pattern test is complete.

Crochet: Double double treble group; fixing mistakes

Aynaria 3 Comments

I really enjoy tackling challenging projects…

I was still having issues crocheting the double double treble group, so I looked at the scarf on the patten test, and figured out a few things I was doing wrong. Also helpful, was revisiting Sarah’s pattern testing post. I remembered that she had done small swatch, for another pattern tester, and so I flipped pages until I found her sample. Ding! Ding! After viewing her practice swatch, I saw what else I doing incorrectly.

I can now see the mistakes I’m making with crocheting the double double treble group.

 

I figured out that the stitches are connected at the top, but I forgot an important step, I need to connect at the bottom too! Many thanks to Sarah, for commenting on my latest post, to offer additional tips. I really appreciated that.

I’ve stopped working on the scarf today, it’s  time to hang out with my daughter a bit more before it’s her bedtime. However, after work tomorrow, I’ll use the knowledge I’ve learned with my practice swatch, and apply it too the actual scarf. I figured it was wise to work on a practice swatch, until I realized my errors since I didn’t want to keep wrecking my lovely yarn.

When it comes to hand crafts, I’m a visual person, with some techniques I’m fine reading and applying, but with complicated stitches videos or photos are very helpful.

Mistakes happen… learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward.

Knitted ribbed balaclava hat

Aynaria 4 Comments

A few weeks ago I started looking for ski mask patterns…

This knitted balaclava hat is 100% wool, I knitted this on my size 7 and 8 Knit Picks Options nickel plated needles.

I found a ski pattern that I liked but the designer called the hat a ‘Balaclava’, from some quick research I learned that the name comes from the town ‘Balaklava’ which is located in the Ukraine.

Since I didn’t want something fancy for my father, I came up with my own pattern. It’s only rib stitch (k2, p2) this is the perfect project to have on hand when I don’t feel like looking at what I’m knitting, or when I need a break from some of my intricate works in progresses.

Currently the knitted balaclava is drying on a chair, and sometime tomorrow I’ll give this to my father. He loves to be outside, and having something that covers most of his face might make my mother not fuss at him so much.

I made his knitted balaclava in a olive color (perfect for him since he doesn’t like anything too loud) so I  know he’ll wear this hat. What I’m really liking about the hat is how incredibly soft it is, and the rib stitch makes it super stretchy and warm. I’m sure he’ll enjoy wearing this hat throughout the winter months. And while you could ‘just pick up a department store ski mask’, the density, and the feel of that fiber compared to what I knitted isn’t the same.

This is the first hand washed item that I’ve made for my father…

Last year, his favorite hat was a crocheted hat that I crafted  using man made fibers. The hat I made, was similar to this crocheted chunky cranberry hat. The only difference is my father’s was crocheted in black with the cranberry trim at the rim of the hat.

In a few weeks, I’ll start knitting a balaclava hat for my daughter. I’m really liking this cabled balacalva pattern. I most likely won’t follow the pattern exactly, but add my own twist.

But now… it’s time to work on the crocheted scarf that I’m pattern testing. I’m currently stumped on one section, and I know it’s something simple I’m overlooking.