05. Tell Them of Us; Sailor collar cardigan knitted by Sheila Cunnea from an US pattern c. 1916-18. Photography by John Bennett. 06. University of Washington student Geraldine Gilbert ‘double-knitting’, Seattle, 1918 (Photography: Webster & Stevens)
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comforts they made for soldiers. It also illuminates the generosity of an international network of volunteer knitters who helped both then and now.
Some inspiring knitting verses Knit knit knit
for the nights will soon be cold Knit, knit, knit, For their worth is more than gold, Scarves and mufflers and belts, Belts and mufflers and scarves. Sleeping under the star-lit dome, Boys will dream of the folks at home.
W. H. Tanner (Burnley News 24 Oct 1914)
The Knitting Women, Kathleen Norris We are the knitting women; weaving swift Our webs of olive drab and navy gray; We are the women, keeping thought away By this new work of love, this eager gift Through which our men, facing the bitter fighting Under the stars of far and foreign lands, Shall know that still a million women’s hands Uphold them in the darkness and the night.
We are the knitting women; weaving swift Our webs of olive drab and navy gray; We are the women, keeping though away By this new work of love, this eager gift Through which our men, facing the bitter fighting Under the stars of far and foreign lands, Shall know that still a million women’s hands Uphold them in the darkness and the night.
(The Evening Independent, US, May 17 1918) Further reading
Fighting on the Home Front: The Legacy of Women in World War One By Kate Adie Susan Strawn; Knitting America Richard Rutt, A History of Hand-knitting No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, Anne L. Macdonald Tell Them of Us, Lincolnshire Heritage Filmakers,
www.wagscreen.co.uk/
Rowan and Katy Bevan would like thank Dr Barbara Smith and the Knitting and Crochet Guild for their help in researching this feature.
www.kcguild.org.uk
A typical pattern
- the Kitchener heel-less sock Cast on 60 sts, 20 each on 3 needles, K2 p2 rib for 4 ins, K straight for 6 ins, K2 p2 rib for 8ins, knit plain for 3 ins Toe
K1 k2tog, k to end. At third stitch from end k2tog and k last stitch off. Narrow in this way on each needle. K6 rows plain, then another narrowing round. K5 rows plain, then a decrease round 4 plain, then another decrease round 3 plain. Cont until 3 stitch left. Break thread, knit stitch and pull through Using darning needle weave back and forth to close opening.
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