Knitting for Victory: New Exhibit features Wartime Knitting
When:Knitting for Victory: New Exhibit features Wartime Knitting
Opens 2 PM , Tuesday, January 28, 2025.
Knitting: Remembrance and Recognition is a new exhibit at the Connell House Carleton County Historical Society Museum which tells the story of how many Canadian women did their part during the Second World War by knitting warm socks, scarves, caps and mittens for soldiers serving overseas.
Connell House Museum is located at 128 Connell Street, Woodstock, N.B. The public is invited to attend and refreshments will be provided.
This wonderful exhibit is on loan from the Kings County Museum in Kentville, Nova Scotia and recognizes the many Canadian men and women who served their country during the Second World War as well as the achievements of Canadian women who knit garments for the comfort of those serving. It features 31 hand knit items from the Four Seasons Fibre Group, original patterns from the Monarch Yarn "Knitting For Victory" magazine and Briggs & Little Woolen Mills, and selected items from the Military Exhibit at Connell House Museum.
Knitting during the Second World War was more than just a woman's hobby-- it was almost a patriotic duty, with women's groups across Canada producing hundreds of thousands of hand knitted clothing items for personnel serving overseas in the Army, Navy and Air Force.
David Hughes, Manager of the NB Military History Museum, wrote that some of the more colourful items on display actually contain Morse code using a combination of knit and purl stitches to hide the messages.
" Knitting coded messages is a form of steganography, " he explains. During the Second World War in Belgium, women living near the train stations were recruited by the Resistance to knit train movements into their work which would later be translated."
Knitting: Remembrance and Recognition opens Tuesday, January 18, 2025 and will be on display until Friday, March 23, 2025. Connell House is open to the public Monday --Friday, 10-4 pm . Everyone is welcome to visit.