18thVirginia
Major
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2012
"It's bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boy's games and work and manners! I can't get over my disappointment in not being a boy. And it's worse than ever now, for I'm dying to go and fight with Papa. And I can only stay home and knit, like a poky old woman!" And Jo shook the blue army sock till the needles rattled like castanets, and her ball bounded across the room." Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, p. 4.
"Beth said nothing, but wiped away her tears with the blue army sock and began to knit with all her might, losing no time in doing the duty that lay nearest her, while she resolved in her quiet little soul to be all that Father hoped to find her when the year brought round the happy coming home." Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, p. 13.
"Then you may come, and I'll teach you to knit as the Scotchmen do. There's a demand for socks just now," added Jo, waving hers like a big blue worsted banner as they parted at the gate." Jo to Laurie, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, p. 204.
"I do not know when I have seen a woman without knitting in her hand." Mary Chesnut, late summer, 1861.
Christmas Boxes in Camp--Christmas 1861, Winslow Homer
http://usercontent2.hubimg.com/10155863_f520.jpg
The importance of knitting sox during the Civil War was brought home to me when reading about Martha Turnbull, owner of Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana. A master gardener, Turnbull kept a garden diary for 40 years. But in the midst of entries about 1,000 pots in the greenhouse in February 1861, she wrote, "It takes 1 lb & 2 oz of wool to 6 pair of army socks." The Garden Diary of Martha Turnbull, Suzanne Turner, p. 148.
I confess that I find knitting amazing as I never even attempted to knit. There were expert quilters and several master crocheters in my family, but no knitters. Last week, it was cold enough for me to hunt for some socks, so I thought it might be interesting to explore knitting socks for Civil War soldiers.
Notice that Winslow Homer's Christmas box from home includes socks.
"Beth said nothing, but wiped away her tears with the blue army sock and began to knit with all her might, losing no time in doing the duty that lay nearest her, while she resolved in her quiet little soul to be all that Father hoped to find her when the year brought round the happy coming home." Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, p. 13.
"Then you may come, and I'll teach you to knit as the Scotchmen do. There's a demand for socks just now," added Jo, waving hers like a big blue worsted banner as they parted at the gate." Jo to Laurie, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, p. 204.
"I do not know when I have seen a woman without knitting in her hand." Mary Chesnut, late summer, 1861.
Christmas Boxes in Camp--Christmas 1861, Winslow Homer
http://usercontent2.hubimg.com/10155863_f520.jpg
The importance of knitting sox during the Civil War was brought home to me when reading about Martha Turnbull, owner of Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana. A master gardener, Turnbull kept a garden diary for 40 years. But in the midst of entries about 1,000 pots in the greenhouse in February 1861, she wrote, "It takes 1 lb & 2 oz of wool to 6 pair of army socks." The Garden Diary of Martha Turnbull, Suzanne Turner, p. 148.
I confess that I find knitting amazing as I never even attempted to knit. There were expert quilters and several master crocheters in my family, but no knitters. Last week, it was cold enough for me to hunt for some socks, so I thought it might be interesting to explore knitting socks for Civil War soldiers.
Notice that Winslow Homer's Christmas box from home includes socks.
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Bringing the