I learned something really interesting today! I was waiting for a blood test, and the woman next to me and I talked about knitting (I had Tubey in my lap). She asked if I knit “German” or “American,” and I said “German.”
Well, she said that she learned to knit continental, but that during WWII, she changed because women in England and the US started knitting English style to be patriotic (and especially anti-German)!
Has anyone else heard this story?
LOL sounds like the French/freedom fries thing recently in the Congressional cafeteria!
:roflhard: :roflhard:
OMG, I’d forgotten about that linguistic lunacy!
Wow, I had no idea - makes sense though, given the times. I wonder if the same happened during WWI? Tons of charity knitting done in that war.
I’ll have to ask my mom about that – she learned to knit in the forties and refers to her method as the “German way.”
Though she’s never really been one to pay attention to what everyone else is doing… :roflhard:
Yay for your non-conformist Mom! 
And yes, do ask her; I find this whole thing fascinating!
That reminds me of Elizabeth Zimmerman describing how she learned to knit continental in the early 1900’s (possibly during WWI) from a Swiss(or German, not sure) nanny, and her later Brtitsh nannies were horrified and forbade her to use “that German manner” instead of the “proper” English method, which, of course, only increased EZ’s interest in continental knitting :lol:
I’ll bet that had to do with WWI, Ella. Kudos to you for remembering that one!
Kind of not too surprised. During those times people with German sounding names were even having those changed… Example? The Royal Family in England officially changed their name to Windsor during the war from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha… Course, I’d change it too.
What a fabulous post Angelia–At the local shopping mall (last weekend) I was browsing at the calendar kiosk b/c all 2006 calendars were 50% off. I was looking for the pattern a day knitting calendar but instead found a calendar with the history of knitting–I didn’t buy it but maybe I will…maybe it’ll say something about this!
Oh my! I am so excited to see this :happydance: ! I’m a newbie to forum, and teach U.S. history. So, I’ve been looking for a way to talk about knitting. This is perfect as I start my unit on World War II!
You are an amazing source of knowledge…
oh my - I want one!
me too! If you find it tell us the name, post a pic, and alla that.
will do! I’ll have to see if I can go there tomorrow at lunch!
I want one too! And I’ve googled but come up empty… 
Here’s a link to the calendar that I saw–maybe it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was but it still looks interesting.
Cool! Thanks for the link!
no problem! 