Handicrafts

This craft book included a long list of women's war charities in Canada, and patterns for every conceivable garment for men and women in uniform, as well as "practical styles for war victims."

Knitting was an enormously popular activity for volunteers, with books such as this one providing patterns for everything from steel helmet caps to amputation covers.

One only has to read their letters and diaries to see how important socks were to soldiers, and it was just as important to Canadians to be able to supply them. The fact that this knitting instruction sheet, preserved by Charlotte Halls of Winnipeg, Manitoba, is so well worn suggests that it was used frequently, and perhaps passed through many hands during the Second World War.

Silk postcards were very popular souvenirs for soldiers during the First World War, and provided an important source of income for French and Belgian handicraft workers.

The label confirmed that "There is sufficient yarn in this ball to knit one pair of service socks."

Monarch Knitting Company was one of Canada's largest textile firms. Their pattern magazines afforded wartime families the opportunity to sew their own clothing from scratch or recycled fabric, while still staying trendy.

In successive editions of this pamphlet, it is possible to see changing understandings of what men and women in uniform needed in the way of knitted articles.