Fighting Fa$cism with Stitches and Pasta

Explore how people used fiber arts to resist fascism, smuggle intelligence, and stitch stories of survival from WWI train codes to Chilean tapestries and pasta protests in Italy. Then, let's hide a secret code in a sock using a circular sock knitting machine from 1908! Can you decipher my scarf and sock? Good luck!

👇 Learn more about each story featured in this video:

**🧶 WWI Belgian Resistance Knitter Who Stitched Train Codes**

Atlas Obscura – The Wartime Spies Who Used Knitting as an Espionage Tool
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/knitting-spies-wwi-wwii

**🧵 Phyllis Latour Doyle – WWII SOE Agent Who Used Knitting to Hide Codes**

A Mighty Girl – Knitting for D-Day
https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=25020

Wikipedia – Phyllis Latour
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Latour

Latour, Pippa (2024). The Last Secret Agent. Auckland, NZ: Allen and Unwin. ISBN 978-1-99100-656-1.

**📘 Codes and Signals Book (1942)**

Etsy – Vintage 1942 Codes and Signals Illustrated Book
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4318468182/vintage-1942-codes-and-signals

eBay – WWII Era Guide to Codes and Signals
https://www.ebay.com/itm/316100934870

**🧵 Alexis Casdagli’s Morse Code Sampler**

TRC Leiden – Casdagli Sampler
https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/individual-textiles-and-textile-types/samplers/casdagli-sampler

The Guardian – Nazis, Needlework and my Dad
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/sep/03/tony-casdagli-father-stitching-nazis

Download Alexis Casdagli’s Journal (PDF)
https://www.cylixpress.co.uk/sdc_download/946/?key=g2jhfborzd46oea28p87t18fy0fp50

**🪡 Norwegian Tablecloth “Against Dark Forces”**

Science Norway – Cross Stitch Against German Occupation
https://www.sciencenorway.no/gender-and-society-history-second-world-war/cross-stitch-against-german-occupation-is-this-norways-first-guerilla-embroidery/2072087

📚 **Let’s Move the Needle: An Activism Handbook for Artists, Crafters, Creatives, and Makers by Shannon Downey aka Badass Cross Stitch**

https://www.badasscrossstitch.com/

**✂️ Arpilleristas – Chilean Women’s Appliqué Tapestries of Resistance**

UMN Duluth – Remnants of Resistance
https://cahss.d.umn.edu/articles/remnants-resistance

Fabrics Store Blog – Textiles and Resistance: The Art of the Chilean Arpilleristas
https://blog.fabrics-store.com/2024/07/15/textiles-and-resistance-the-art-of-the-chilean-arpilleristas/

Decolonial Healing Justice – Arpilleras: Chile’s Women Weave Tapestries of Truth
https://www.gendersecurityproject.com/decolonial-healing-justice/arpilleras-chiles-women-weave-tapestries-of-truth

**🍝 Pastasciutta Antifascista – Italy’s Anti-Fascist Pasta Tradition**

Sommelier Suite – Antifascist Pastasciutta
https://sommeliersuite.com/en/anti-fascist-pasta/

Wikipedia (Italian) – Pastasciutta Antifascista
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastasciutta_antifascista

Worldcrunch – Pasta vs. Fascists
https://worldcrunch.com/food-travel/pasta-fight-fascism-how-italy-s-traditional-dish-became-a-symbol-of-anti-fascism/

**🧦 Red Cross Sock Knitting – WWI & WWII**

PatCosta – WWII Red Cross Reproduction Knitting Patterns
https://patcosta.com/ww2-red-cross-reproduction-knitting-patterns/

Center for Knit and Crochet – Knit Your Bit
https://centerforknitandcrochet.org/knit-your-bit-the-american-red-cross-knitting-program/

HistoryLink – Knitting for Victory
https://www.historylink.org/File/5722

My friend @ShannonMakes has an amazing video about knitting for the war effort in WWII: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCQVJfEdO6k

🎥 Subscribe for more stories of resistance, craft, and creativity.

💬 Drop a comment if you’ve ever stitched something subversive.

❓ Let me know if you have any topic requests!

This is the code hidden in my sock:
20 8 5   19 20 1 20 5   3 1 14 20   7 9 22 5   25 15 21   6 18 5 5   19 16 5 5 3 8   1 14 4   20 8 5   19 20 1 20 5   3 1 14 20   20 1 11 5   9 20   1 23 1 25   25 15 21 18   2 15 18 14   23 9 20 8   9 20   12 9 11 5   25 15 21 18   5 25 5 19   12 9 11 5   25 15 21 18   5 1 18 19   6 18 5 5 4 15 13   9 19   19 15 13 5 20 8 9 14 7   25 15 21   1 19 19 21 13 5   20 8 5 14   25 15 21   23 1 9 20   6 15 18   19 15 13 5 15 14 5   20 15   20 18 25   20 15   20 1 11 5   9 20   1 23 1 25   20 8 5   4 5 7 18 5 5   20 15   23 8 9 3 8   25 15 21   18 5 19 9 19 20   9 19   20 8 5   4 5 7 18 5 5   20 15   23 8 9 3 8   25 15 21   1 18 5   6 18 5 5