Library offers 'Knitting on Homefront' | The Connecticut Post

Library offers 'Knitting on Homefront'
The Connecticut Post - November 24 2006

Some bought war bonds. For others, it was diligent rationing. Still others wore lapel pins.

The homefront support for the Allied campaign in World War II took many forms.

One of the less heralded groups lending support for the troops was knitters. And when they gathered, a radio often was positioned nearby.

"The Red Cross gave out needles and patterns and all kinds of things so that they could knit for the soldiers," Mary Witkowski, Bridgeport's city historian, said of the homefront knitting circles organized during the war.

That period is recaptured each month at Bridgeport Public Library with the program "Knitting on the Homefront."

Congregating in the Broad Street library's third-floor meeting room, area residents bring souvenirs and memorabilia from the WWII era. They chat, exchange stories and help one another with knitting projects.

During a recent meeting, a replica of a bulky, vintage radio help set the mood by emitting music performed by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Witkowski, who also is director of the library's Historical Collections Department, and four other circle members knitted to the strains of songs such as "Moonlight Serenade," "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" and "Pennsylvania 6-5000." [more]