Uploaded March 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Codebreakers have recently infiltrated the public imagination of wartime efforts – but what about code-makers? Historian and knitter Kristen Howard explores the role played by knitting in wartime codes and correspondence, from providing a “cover” for women spies in WWII to the use of knitting to disguise or a mplify messages. Case studies will include the French Revolution, American Revolutionary War, and the World Wars.
Kristen also presents a new knitting pattern incorporating both Morse Code and illusion knitting – another method of hiding secret messages in stitches – to demonstrate how knitting can be used today as a form of coded correspondence. The pattern relies on cleverly combining simple knit and purl stitches to incorporate your chosen message. Can you crack the code?
Recorded March 9th, 2022
4:11 - Opening Comments Nathalie Cooke Associate Dean, ROAAr McGill Library
8:20 - ROAAr collections Comments, Christopher Lyons, Head Librarian Rare Books and Special Collections
14:10 - Knitting in Code - Kristen Howard
34:00 - Secret Message Pillow Pattern Introduction
43:30 - Question and Answer - Kristen Howard and Jacquelyn Sundberg, ROAAr McGill Library
Codebreakers have recently infiltrated the public imagination of wartime efforts – but what about code-makers? Historian and knitter Kristen Howard explores the role played by knitting in wartime codes and correspondence, from providing a “cover” for women spies in WWII to the use of knitting to disguise or a mplify messages. Case studies will include the French Revolution, American Revolutionary War, and the World Wars.
Kristen also presents a new knitting pattern incorporating both Morse Code and illusion knitting – another method of hiding secret messages in stitches – to demonstrate how knitting can be used today as a form of coded correspondence. The pattern relies on cleverly combining simple knit and purl stitches to incorporate your chosen message. Can you crack the code?
Recorded March 9th, 2022
4:11 - Opening Comments Nathalie Cooke Associate Dean, ROAAr McGill Library
8:20 - ROAAr collections Comments, Christopher Lyons, Head Librarian Rare Books and Special Collections
14:10 - Knitting in Code - Kristen Howard
34:00 - Secret Message Pillow Pattern Introduction
43:30 - Question and Answer - Kristen Howard and Jacquelyn Sundberg, ROAAr McGill Library
