Knitting on the Silver Screen

A funny thing happened when I learned to knit: I began to notice knitting--the act, the results, the supplies. When I got tired of pestering my family to come see so-and-so knitting on tv, I decided I'd just make myself a list.

Everytime I caught sight of a knitter in a movie, I wrote it down. In some cases, knitting was just something a character did (Top Hat[1935], My Man Godfrey[1936], They Wanted to Marry[1937]).

But in others, knitting was integral to the character's identity or to the development of the movie's plot:
"Robin and the Seven Hoods"[1964]
"I Was a Male War Bride"[1949]
"Breakfast at Tiffany's"[1961]
" Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"[1971]
" Mr. Lucky"[1943]
" The Mouse That Roared"[1959]
"America's Sweethearts"[2001]
"Shall We Dance"[1937]
"Chicken Run"[2000]
"Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit"[2005]
"After the Thin Man"[1936]

And when there's knitting, in a WWII storyline, in a movie, well! This gal's in hog heaven, as we used to say in Texas. Any knitting specifically for the war effort naturally ranks high on my list(I Was a Male War Bride, Mr. Lucky).

My husband pointed this one out to me, but I'm not sure if it should count: the scene in "A Night at the Opera"[1935] where Harpo is pretending to knit with two forks and some fringe from the tablecloth draped over his shoulders! Maybe we could just classify that as "Marxian" knitting! Ha!

These are only the recently discovered, mind you. There's no telling how many escaped my notice in my pre-knitting days. And since I often knit while watching movies, I might be missing some crucial scenes even now!

How a Knitter helped win the Revolutionary War

Something I ran across while feeding my son's fascination with George Washington....

During the time of the Revolutionary War, a network of Patriot spies included a woman known as "Old Mom" Rinker. As the story goes, she would often sit knitting while drying flax (now there's something you don't hear about much anymore!) on a cliff near Philadelphia. When she had messages to pass on, she would insert them into the ball of yarn and oops! drop it over the cliff, where it was quietly retrieved by other Patriot spies who kept an eye on that cliff for just that purpose.

Knitting, it's not just for socks and sweaters anymore!

The kids are hanging over my shoulder...

...wanting to know when they get to start their own blogs! Just think, when I was their age we'd never even heard the word.