Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 83, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 April 1918 — How Red Cross Workers Are Now Knitting Two Socks at Same Time for Army Boys [ARTICLE]

How Red Cross Workers Are Now Knitting Two Socks at Same Time for Army Boys

Knitting two socks at one time is an achievement every war knitter would like to be equal to. Some of the Red Cross shops are passing the news around tljat it can be done. The discovery was credited to a Sydney, Australia, workshop. This shop increased its output from 50,000 pairs of socks one month to 76,000 pairs the next by knitting “twins.” Miss Brown, who came to this country to' impart the directions to our Red Cross, gives the following instructions on knitting twin socks: “The purling for the top of the socks is knit separate. When one is finished take It off with a darning needle on to a heavy cord. When the other is finished slip the first one inside the second one, from ’the top, and with the knitting needle take up from first one and then the other, alternating, beginning with the first stitch from the needle and ending with the last stitch from the one* on the cord. Hold the sock toward you, purling the first stitch, which is from the sock that was on the needle, and knitting the second stitch frpm the one that was on the cord; proceed with the first purl and then knit, holding the thread over the first finger for knitting, and soon you will acquire a rhythm. “When you get to the heels take off as in any sock. As you turn your heel always purl the one next to you and knit the other. To narrow take first and third stitch, purl them and slip the needle out, which leaves one stitch from the opposite sock, which slip onto your needle and narrow knitting. There is no slip and bind in this sock. When finished slip the needles out and take up your separate socks and bind off. In purling never put your thread over —always keep it toward you, as if you are purling back on your heel.” The teacher 'said that after knitting three pairs one would become as efficient as in knitting the single sock.