Knitting for War

Having a "new" blog is great! I can talk about anything, with the absolute certainty that no one will read about it till it's too late.

Sunday is the holiday party at Wooly Wonders, my LYS. We're having a gift exchange, that's not quite one of the funky "auctions" that folks either love or hate.

Someone mentioned a little book that the Red Cross has for sale, that is vintage patterns for knitting for War.

I ordered two, and they finally arrived yesterday. I have to say, this little booklet totally rocks! One is going to the gift exchange.

Now I need to decide what to put with it. I'm thinking about some "camo" yarn, needles, and a couple of the current patterns for knitting for "our boys (and girls)". There are hat, hood and sock projects going on out there.

I have some real problems with the "knit for the troops" projects. It really seems like they're the "baby" of one person, who has definite opinions about what is "right", and won't brook any other opinions. THIS one says "The hats must be wool. I put in instructions on how to hand wash them, so they won't shrink or felt." (Right - a 19 year old in Iraq is going (a) even look at the instructions and (b) follow them"). THAT one says "The socks must be acrylic, so they can be machine washed". Then I read a letter from a service man saying "I picked this up from a box that says "free - take one." Oh, that really makes me think that some soldier appreciates my work. We could as easily buy a case of acrylic crap from Wally World, and send it over, for all the appreciation we'd be getting.

But, I want to do something. The war is stupid, but the folks on the front lines aren't.