Socks
Each member will need several pairs of socks made of wool. The most appropriate colors are gray and olive drab green. Other shades of green and colors such as dark/navy blue and brown are appropriate. During the war millions of pairs of socks were knitted by hand and on sock knitting machines by the citizenry of the United States for its soldiers and distributed through the American Red Cross.
The single best source for socks is to have someone knit them for you. The following links are to instructions on knitting socks. While the first set of instructions are for socks from the Civil War era they are very appropriate for WW1 use. The second set of instructions is from the WW1 period. The third link is to a sock pattern from the Red Cross, and while it is dated from the World War 2 era, it was a re-issuance of a World War 1 pattern. What may not be used are modern hiking socks or athletic socks with stripes.http://www.agsas.org/howto/patterns/SoldiersSock.shtml
http://www.hjsstudio.com/redsocks.html
http://www.redcross.org/museum/pdfs/knitting_socks.pdf
For those that do not know a knitter many of our members know knitters and can put new members into contact with someone more than happy to knit socks. Here also is a list of suppliers for both hand and machine knitted woolen socks.Two Flags Sutlery probably has the best deal on woolen hand knitted socks at $16 a pair. These are very well made.
Two Flags Sutlery
2340 Spring Drive
Escalon, CA 95320
209-838-2072
website – http://www.twoflagssutlery.com/Evergreen Acres Farm offers on its website woolen socks knitted on an old sock-knitting machine. The company offers natural colored woolen socks and dyed socks for $12-$13, listed as Civil War era socks. Stick with the usual colors of gray, brown, blue and green.
Evergreen Acres Farm
N2784 Camp Riversite Road
Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin 53085
920-564-3101 or 920-893-0683
e-mail – evergreenacresfarm@hotmail.com
website – http://evergreenacresfarm.comS&S Sutler of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania offers hand knitted socks for $35. Request socks in dark blues, browns, grays and greens in solid colors.
S & S Sutler of Gettysburg
Tim & Debbie Sheads
331 Buford Ave.
Gettysburg, PA 17325
717-334-4253 5-10pm
e-mail – sheads@ss-sutler.com
website – http://www.ss-sutler.com/Verena’s Knitting Corner offers a number of possibilities for hand knitted socks.
e-mail – wvmaedchen@yahoo.com
website – http://webpages.charter.net/svenjafour/index.html