“…for I’m dying to go and fight with papa, and I can only stay home and knit, like a poky old woman; and Jo shook the blue army-sock till the needles rattled like castanets, and her ball bounded across the room.”

Discovered in a 1861 issue of “Scientific American,” this sock pattern was distributed on the United States home front to encourage the making of government issue military style socks for soldiers. It is no doubt the type of army sock that Louisa May Alcott envisioned as she wrote about her character “Jo March” knitting socks for soldiers in the classic, Little Women, which was published shortly after the war.

This pattern was developed from the original primary source by a Craft Yarn Council certified knitting instructor. It includes detailed instructions with images, in addition to selected soldier sock knitting quotes from Little Women. It’s a unique sock to knit with an interesting story, and a great way to step into history!

This sock pattern is available for free, if you sign up for the Civil War Patterns newsletter (link: https://civilwarpatterns.com/products/1861-u-s-soldier-socks).