Summary

Alternative Name(s): Knitting Book, Pattern Book

Booklet produced by the Australian Comforts Fund, Victorian Division, as a Guide to Knitting for Australian servicemen on active service, January 1940. The booklet includes patterns for socks, pullovers, scarf, balaclava, mittens, caps, muffs and gloves for servicemen. It was printed by W.A. Hamer Pty Ltd, Peel St, North Melbourne.

Book was produced in the first months of World War II, to provide information for those 'at home' who wanted to contribute to the war effort in the way that thousands of women and unenlisted men did during World War I. However, in the second war, the war effort required different types of activity: many women joined the work force and worked in factories or on farms, and had little time to spare for knitting comforts for the troops, apart from, perhaps, those they knew personally. Knitting wool was rationed, too, diverted into the mass-production of uniforms and other clothing for the troops. This knitting book is believed by the donor to have belonged to his grandmother, who lived in Melbourne in the 1940s. It shows no sign of having been used to produce any garment.

Physical Description

Booklet, 20 pages, with cream and red cover that is stained.

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