It was an image based on my childhood when things like that really happened. Mothers got together to knit school sweaters or army socks. They also pieced together any and all scraps for patchwork quilts. There were no idle hands.
Kids played nearby. Every mother was your mother and any one of them could tell you to do something or to stop doing something and you did as told. It was a close-knit community.
I did a bit of research and the only connection between this shelter and my memory is the army. A few years ago Fort Lewis had three extra shelters like this one and donated them to nearby communities for school bus shelters. Unfortunately there had been serious vandalism to this one, resulting in it being torn down and a new one built in its place.
If you are there in the afternoon, you may see neighbors driving up to pick up their mail. Many of them live more than a mile down the roads.
The tin is no longer a Knitting Girl tin - it is now a Quilting Girl tin.