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My brother is a reenactor. There, I said it, he is. He has uniforms from WWI and WWII for Americans, Germans and Russians. He has uniforms for the American Civil War, both sides, and the American Revolution. It’s how he met his wife, whom I love, so don’t hate! That’s how I got my nephews. I guess we’re just a big family of history geeks. But my brother is the best hand knit gift recipient I have ever met. With all of his research of how “things” were made and handling extant items, he knows the time and care put into making each item, and he likes handmade. Anything I give him is taken care of and used, and he’s never said the word “itchy” in relation to wool. Are you jealous yet? (I read the introduction to Son of Stitch n Bitch, and was glad that I don’t have to go through all the crap outlined for gifting hand knits to a guy suggested there. But I know such brutish men, who do not appreciate the work of your hands, exist.)
Since Brother is kindly letting me sleep in his laundry room until I get my own place, I thought it might be nice to knit him the WWII Red Cross service gloves I’ve been dangling in front of him for a year. I also have the patterns for socks, sweaters and helmet liners, but I thought I’d go with gloves first. With the help of MissMartha on Ravelry (shout out!) I found a good yarn substitute for the olive drab Red Cross issued yarn used during the war, and found a few balls at the Mill End store this weekend, and got to knitting.
MissMartha suggested Patons Merino Wool in Deep Olive, and it’s working out beautifully. I got the gauge with US size 4′s, and it’s tight and dense, but that’s how gloves should be anyway. I told Brother that since there was only one size listed for the gloves, that’s the size he was getting, and that made him happy. Accuracy is important, and that’s how the soldiers would have gotten their gloves back in the day.
I had to get a close up of the thumb gusset that my sister in law and I proclaimed “cute”, then decided that no, it was a fearsome, terrifying thumb gusset engineered to strike fear into the hearts of the Krauts! (I can say Kraut, I am one.)
A bunch of Red Cross knitting patterns are available online at the Red Cross Museum website, for anyone who is interested, and the Patons Merino Wool I’ve seen at a lot of big box craft stores like Michael’s and JoAnn’s, so it’s not too much of an investment to make the reenactor in your life happy.
