my dad was excited to hand out gifts on christmas and he made it clear that this was the one, for me, that he was most excited about: hand knits for service men, published in 1944.
as previously mentioned on this blog, our service man is my cousin alex, who waved away any suggestion that the readers of this blog should bombard him or his men with knitted teddy bears, preemie caps, swaddling bandages, or other knitted tokens of esteem. this is not to say that he is not lighthearted, because, as you see here, he is perfectly happy to wear a (mass-produced, not handknitted) santa hat and kebab it up in iraq on christmas.
i think, though, that were alex to see a copy of hand knits for service men, he might think twice about the useful and practical items he has passed up. like balaclavas...
... and steel helmets. (the name of the pattern that goes with his image is, in fact, "steel helmet". so i can only assume.)
join the leigh bowery army! leigh's influence is felt so many places -- in the thai music videos i have grown to love watching, and here as well, in our armed forces. (the book about leigh's work is still on backorder from amazon -- that is a christmas gift i am still looking forward to, as my dad more or less decimated my wish list and my sister's, and i got quite a few new textile books, as well as a subscription to selvedge, and all the available back issues.)