World War II Knitting

I had the opportunity to attend a talk today at the Minnesota History Center on World War II Knitting. The program was presented by Linda McShannock, the Textile Curator at the History Center, and Steven Berg, aka 'The Glitter Knitter' and owner of the Yarn Garage in Rosemount, Minnesota. Linda talked about the museum's collections (and mentioned me and Carol Ogren because of our volunteer work cataloguing the knitting collection - years ago) and showed us some wonderful pieces that were on display for today's event. Steven talked about the history of male knitters as well as the charity knitting done during the World Wars for soldiers. It was really interesting!

Here's Steven (in a sweater made out of multiple fibers, including 8-track tape!):

You can just barely see in the background a mannequin with a fantastic dress made out of a silk underdress, covered with an overdress made of copper wire! It is so cool. I wish I had gotten a better photo... It was made by a local fiber artist (can't remember her name) and is called something like "Yeah, I'm a Goddess."

At my table there was a wonderful woman named Trudy (sorry, I've forgotten her last name) who is 82 years young. She had a couple of great anecdotes about wartime knitting. In addition, she has given a couple of her hand-knitted items to the collection. Here she is (on the left) with Linda McShannock and Trudy's beautiful, Chanel-inspired sweater. The sweater was a blue ribbon winner at the Minnesota State Fair in the 1990s.

Progess - Slowly

I'm back at work on a regular basis, plus the kids have gone back to school, so I can no longer spend my days lounging on the sofa knitting and crocheting and neelepointing while I listen to books on my iPod! SIGH!

Hence the slow as molasses progress on my needlepoint piece. Here's a photo anyway:

Mostly, I have a bunch of green left; however, I do still have to do seven stars plus some beads on the bottom of the pants and some sparkly thread (Kreinik) in some places. But then it will be ready to go the finisher. This piece is 7" x 17" - a perfect size for a wall-hanging.

I also have to finish my 'Maude' jacket/duster this weekend, since it needs to go up in 3 Kittens for a class sample. I made the XL size, but now I'm thinking I should have made the L. It worked up so quickly that I might just have to make another one in a different color! Photos to come when the first one is done.