Friday 10 May 2013

Patriotic Knitting - WW1 Style

During the first world war, women were encouraged to knit for the men away fighting.


 
I found these advertisements in a copy of Needlecraft Practical Journal No 117.

 
Must have been awful just knitting in khaki. white, natural, greys and drabs ... what on earth is drab - beige, perhaps?

 
I suppose it was a great way to get women who couldn't go out to work to help. 

 
Wonder if there was a quality control centre - or some poor chaps got the socks with dropped stitches.

 
Has anyone been watching BBC's "The Village" on Sunday evenings?  Its a bit drab (that's my word for the day)!!!!!  But I suppose it must have been a dreadful struggle for many to keep the family together and provide enough food for them to eat. 

 
Can't wait for the return of  The Paradise, Ripper Street, Mr Selfridge, Call the Midwife - think I prefer my history with a touch of glamour, humour ... and handsome men!  Funnily enough don't feel that I want to add Downtown to this list, thought the last series was a bit flat.  Perhaps I was expecting too much.

Love, Liz

Many thanks for all your lovely comments on the previous post.  I ended up doing absolutely nothing, but felt better for it!  I guess we all have days like that.  It is so good to have blogging buddies who understand. 
Liz

12 comments:

Used-to-Bees said...

I watched The Village, and it was rather drab, as you say, but moving too. Although the struggles of the Middleton family were terribly sad, the bit that made me really weep was the bit where the mother whose son had been killed early on in the war, had to nurse her girls with the flu, and when one died, she had to carry her body out from amidst the others. Terrible. My favourite is Call the Midwife - gritty at times but not too depressing! Have a good weekend!
x

The Faerie Factory said...

What wonderful images Liz, indeed it was a drab time and I'm with you on the village it was very dreary and bleak. Even the gorgeous John Simm didn't brighten the mood. Hopefully something much brighter will come along on Sunday evenings soon. Sarah x

Rustic Vintage Country said...

Aha, someone who agrees with me! I have to admit that Downtown has gone a bit flat for me too. I sometimes think they stretch some series out a bit too long which tends to spoil them. Love all the old adverts. x

Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces said...

How interesting, Liz! "Useful work for anxious fingers" What a time it must have been...thank you for sharing.

Curtise said...

Useful work for anxious fingers? How funny! Cock O' The North doesn't seem a very likely name for a brand of wool either, but I suppose they were aiming for manly and hard-wearing!
Great ads.
I'm hopeless, hardly watch any TV any more, though I make an exception for The Apprentice, just for the laughs! xxx

Fiona said...

I watched The Village and yes it was a bit dark. I nearly gave up after episode one but decided to persevere,
still don't get the cow bit tho'. Wasn't little Bert adorable ? I hear there is to be another series.
All my faves are finished now.
Great ads btw and great they have survived.

Connie said...

We just got "Call the Midwife" here in the states and people are going gaga for it! Since I'm sort of a grey and navy blue sort of person I would probably love the color drab.

GardenOfDaisies said...

I think drab is a brown color. Not the most appealing list of colors for a woman to work with, but ones that would blend in to the surroundings and keep the men from becoming an enemy target. We get "Call the Midwife" here. Wonderful series.

serendipity said...

Yes, The Village was rather bleak, but I thought it was very moving and true to life. The plan is to do more series through the different decades, so it will be interesting to see how things develop. xx

Scarlet said...

We really enjoyed ' The Village', even if it was grim. I preferred it to Downton,which I agree has definitely gone off the boil.

September Violets said...

I actually knit one of the wartime hats "watchman's cap" a couple of years ago. I knit it in grey ... found the apparently authentic pattern on ravelry, and it knitted up into a lovely warm winter toque! I love finding old patterns like that :) Wendy

Robyn of Oz said...

Hi Liz
Here in Australia there was also a huge push for the girls at home to knit up a storm. The Red Cross used to put together comfort packages. There would be fruit cake, tobacco, matches, bikkies, tea and of course, socks.
As many of the women worked hard on the war effort, often it was gran with the kids making socks. My mum learned to knit when she was about 5, so it was not uncommon for girls born in the era before mass production and cheapness to have these skills. I just find the idea of doing a turned heel doing my head in, without little girls having those skills, or did the pass the needles to nan to turn them?
I'm a big Call the Midwife fan as well. We've not long had this series and Chummy has just returned from Africa. I believe her bub is to be born in the next episode.
Cheers