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Love Knitting and Supporting a Great Cause?

Join us Monday afternoons from November 10 until December 15 as we participate in the “Knit Your Bit” Program to provide scarves to American veterans. This program is an initiative of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, and it has collected and distributed nearly 30,000 scarves since its launch in 2006.

National WWII Museum Knit your Bit Program at Long Branch Plantation
National WWII Museum Knit your Bit Program at Long Branch Plantation

Originally begun during the First World War as the “Knit for Victory” campaign, “Knit Your Bit” was revived during WWII as a way for those on the home front to support the war effort. The program was coordinated by the Red Cross, who supplied patterns for pieces such as socks, sweaters, and fingerless mitts, among others. Both local and national publications promoted the “Knit Your Bit” campaign, including a 1941 cover story in the popular Life magazine. The piece included instructions and a pattern for knitting, along with an article explaining the virtues of knitting as helpful to the war effort: “To the great American question ‘What can I do to help the war effort?’ the commonest answer yet found is ‘Knit.’”

Newspapers encouraged knitting with lines like, “The Navy needs men, but it also needs knitters,” and by publishing photographs of important figures, such as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, knitting. Local groups met to knit and shared patterns with one another. These patterns would be memorized so that knitters could quickly and easily reproduce them, and many versions of the same piece were made.

Pieces collected and distributed by the Red Cross complimented military uniforms and were made in colors such as khaki and navy blue. One company that produced uniforms during WWII was the textile manufacturer I.C. Isaacs & Co, led by Harry Z. Isaacs, owner of Long Branch between 1986 and 1990.

The first “Knit Your Bit” meeting will take place from 3:30 to 6:30pm on November 10 and participants may drop in any time. Finished scarves should be donated to the museum office by December 21. Long Branch will then send all of the scarves to the National WWII Museum. All ages and skill levels are welcome, and guidance and patterns will be provided as needed. Admission is free of charge, but participants will need to provide their own supplies such as needles and yarn.

– Frances Monroe, Long Branch Plantation Intern

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