Spies, Socks, & Soldiers // The Fascinating History of Wartime Knitting

What does the White House lawn, Cary Grant & pet collies have in common? They all played a role in wartime knitting! Learn how -and more- in this video!


☕ Support the channel on Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/shannonmakes

📸 The 'Gram:   / making.seams.meet  

----------------------------

📚Further Resources:

1. "No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting" by Anne L. MacDonald
2. “Stitches in Time: The Story of the Clothes We Wear” by Lucy Adlingtonn (not just on knitting but sewing as well)
3. "Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art" by Susan Strawn
4. (Nearly) Lost Knitting Songs - 2 albums by Melanie Gall, here: https://www.melaniegall.com/cds
5. "Knitskrieg: A Call to Yarns! A History of Military Knitting from the 1800s to the Present Day" by Joyce Meader
6. McMaster University archives: https://digitalcollections.mcmaster.c...


----------------------------


Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:24 Civil War Years
03:59 Civil War Socks
07:06 The Great War
08:07 Knitting Propaganda
11:06 Not Just White Women
16:31 Poking fun at knitters
18:17 Early standardization of patterns
20:19 Knitting machines
22:45 World War Two
23:39 Famous Knitters
24:50 Knitting Pattern Improvements
27:34 Wool Shortages & Creative Solutions
30:46 BIPOC Knitters in WW2
32:53 Everyone Knitting Everywhere
33:56 Knitting Etiquette
34:48 Knitting Styles & the Politics of Linguistics
36:47 Knitting & Espionage
43:07 To What Effect?
45:28 Further Details & Outro


This is a video about the history of wartime knitting, in which I go quite in depth about the history of knitting for soldiers and knitting for the war effort going back as far as the American Civil War, and talking about the role the Red Cross played in later, more organized efforts to get civilians to contribute to the war effort by knitting - mainly through a massive propaganda effort - as well as talk about who exactly was knitting (hint: it was everyone, regardless if you only see middle-aged white women in the history books), how knitting was potentially involved in espionage of the time, and much more!

If you like this video, then you should definitely check out my other video, where I make a servicewoman's knit vest from a Canadian Red Cross knitting booklet. It also touches a bit on historical knitting, specifically about wartime knitting in World War Two with some amazing audio clips from the war years, 1939-1945 both from soldiers on the frontlines as well as civilians on the home front who talk about knitting for the war, and knitting for victory.

#wartimeknits #vintageknitting #WW2Knits