Knit Your Bit
Here’s a way to thank WWII Veterans . . . we can all Knit Our Bit and snuggle them up in something warm. For the past two years this project has been aiming to put a scarf around the neck of every WWII veteran.
You can read the FAQs here.
Here is the 2007 V for Victory Scarf Pattern
The 2006 pattern is also available as is a crochet version of the V for Victory scarf.
Grab your materials and begin knitting your scarf. If you belong to a knitting circle, why not make this a group project!
Mail completed scarf to:
The National World War II Museum
Knit Your Bit Campaign
945 Magazine Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
For questions or comments please contact Lauren at lauren.handley@nationalww2museum.org or call 504-527-6012 ext. 229.
Please include your mailing address, so they can recognize your generosity by sending you a certificate of participation and let the veterans know where the scarf has come from.
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From the website:
Knitting during World War II
On the Home Front during World War II, knitting served as one more way Americans could support the war effort. The November 24, 1941 cover story of the popular weekly magazine Life explained “How To Knit.� Along with basic instructions and a pattern for a simple knitted vest, the article advised, “To the great American question ‘What can I do to help the war effort?’ the commonest answer yet found is ‘Knit.’� Thousands of Americans picked up their needles to knit socks, mufflers, and sweaters to keep American soldiers warm and provide them with a home-made reminder of home.
Many of those knitting items for soldiers during World War II had Knit for Victory as children or young adults during World War I. Knitting provided warmth and comfort for the soldier and therapeutic distraction and a sense of civic participation for the knitters. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was often photographed knitting for the war effort or at least carrying her voluminous knitting bag. In the evening listening to war news on the radio, idle hands were turned to service as Americans once again knit for victory.
The Red Cross supplied patterns for sweaters, socks, mufflers, fingerless mitts (which allowed soldiers to keep their hands warm while shooting), toe covers (for use with a cast), stump covers, and other garments. Cold, wet, sore feet were the enemy as surely as German or Japanese troops. Socks wore out much faster than sweaters, and needed changing many times more frequently. These were to be knitted in olive drab or navy blue wool yarn. Surviving patterns show that these knitting patterns were typed and retyped with carbon-paper copies and shared among the knitters. Many knitters chose to knit the same item in the same size again and again so that they could memorize the pattern and produce pieces more quickly.
“The Navy needs men, but it also needs knitters� newspapers cried. Church basements, school lunchrooms, and members-only societies all had knitters busily clicking their needles. Their handiwork was destined to warm and protect, and fated to suffer with the soldiers. After the war, some knitters dropped their needles for good. Others kept on knitting throughout their lives in a wide variety of colors – any color, many swore but Army-issued khaki or olive drab!
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Something new for you to consider as you think about your projects for your own family. Reach out and touch someone with your loving concern. Thanks!
November 11th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
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