I’m a little new around the WordPress neighborhood. Bear with me while I get my bearings.

In honor of this past Veteran’s Day, I want to blog about a wonderful program sponsored by the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Organizers Lauren Handley and Amanda Madden have launched a project that will give hand-knit scarves to WWII veterans to thank them for serving our country.

The FREE pattern is inspired by WWII-era patterns. If you’re a knitting history buff, you know that during both World Wars, it was considered a patriotic duty to knit scarves, socks, sweaters, hats, and whatnot for soldiers overseas. Everyone knit–women, men, children. There’s a very good essay about the knitting effort here.

The pattern is super easy–it’s all garter stitch, with a two-color stripe pattern. If you want to branch out in your own color combos, the site recommends working with khaki green and cream, or navy and cream. Download the pattern here.

When you’re done knitting, send your scarf (or scarves) to the Museum (the address is on the page I just linked to). They will distribute them to V.A. Hospitals and other veterans’ organizations, which will then give them to individuals. Scarves received before December 10 will be presented as special holiday gifts.

I think this is such a sweet idea. Imagine a vet who received something handknit in 1943, who gets a scarf this year. It kinda makes me teary.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 13th, 2006 at 3:45 pm and is filed under knitting for others. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.