I use knitting to do community work…
Maine’s First Ship, Bath Maine – The very first ship that was built in Maine was the Virginia. It represents an important part of Maine’s history and heritage connected to shipbuilding.
A local group in Maine which I captain, the Clothing Crew, makes clothes like those worn by people in the 17th century. We create time period outfits for the crew of the ship. This helps show people today what clothing was like back then.
Plimoth Patuxet Museum – The museum is a place where you can step back in time and experience how people lived in the early days of America. It focuses on the history and culture of both the Native Wampanoag People and the Pilgrims who came from Europe.
In 2010 a group of knitters from the Greater Boston Knitting Guild began working on a project to knit 17 century clothing for the Plimoth Patuxet Museum https://www.plimoth.org/home, Historical Clothing Department. Working with Jackie Fee we began knitting and testing patterns so she could revise them into a usable resource for the museum and for other knitters. This effort resulted in the publication of a book called Knitted Garb first published in 2014.
Along with others, I have continued to knit historical clothing for the museum through the Greater Boston Knitting Guild’s mission to do community outreach projects. Some examples below.
Caps for Kids Beantown
The mission of Caps for Kids Beantown was to provide hand knit items for under served children in the Boston area to help keep them warm in winter. I served as one of the Board of Directors for this effort. Below are some of the hats donated by the Greater Boston Knitting Guild. This organization was dissolved in the spring of 2020 after providing 10,000+ hats annually to children of Boston during its existence of 20 years.
