The language of knitters

A friend shared this graphic in a Facebook group I belong to it and I was at once struck by two things. First, how familiar I was with this knitters language  (except TOAD - that was a new one on me) and second, how baffling these words would seem to a non knitter. 

It got me thinking a little about why we use these words and the meaning they serve.

The main reason I guess is that a shared language gives us shared meaning and a sense of inclusion and community. When we use the same words we automatically tell another knitter "Yes, I am one of you too". It helps to foster a sense of friendship and camaraderie, especially in online communities where we can't rely on face to face methods of non verbal communication.

Use of specific language also helps to distinguish us from non knitters and to reinforce our sense of exclusivity and community. Any community or group, be they scientists, engineers or lawyers have their own specific acronyms and language that marks them out as different and separate from 'everyone else' and the language of knitters is no exception.

It must be a little daunting though as a new knitter to come across these terms. When you are struggling to grasp the concepts of gauge and blocking, to read about WIPs and SABLE must leave you with your mind reeling. Or if you have been knitting for years but are new to the online communities then again, it must seem like a whole new world.

I don't really know where I am going with this and certainly I don't think the use of such language is in any way wrong. I guess it just made me think about our use of language and to be more aware when communicating online with new knitters. And just to be mindful that not everyone shares the same language (yet) as I do.

Ido love to know what you think of this. Do you love the sense of fun and community that using such terms fosters or do they annoy you and you'd rather call a spade a spade? 

NNow if you'll excuse me I need to go and rescue my vanilla WIP from the frog pond.

Delving into the stash

It has been a pleasure to explore my stored sock yarn this week following on from a conversation started by Jo Milmine of the Shinybees podcast. If you haven't heard her podcast do check it out for fab knitting rants, comedy banter and great enabling.

In recent weeks she has been talking about her project for 2017 of Active Stash Exploration. All about the stories our Yarm could tell if only it could speak. Stories of adventure, exploration and creativity.

Inspired by this I delved deep into my sock yarn drawer and found this fabulous skein - bought when I had just embarked on my love affair with self striping yarn. Sadly the dyer, Eaden  Yarns is no longer dyeing but this great skein - appropriately named Retro - is now out of my drawer and on my needles.

If you would like to check out the #activestashexploration project just use the hashtag on social media and enjoy some fabu loud yarn tales.

Weekend Knitting

Is it just me or do you like to have a special project set aside for some quality 'weekend knitting' time? For me, weekend knitting means 'no work knitting' unless I have a deadline looming and I like to pick something from my WIP basket to work on during those long uninterrupted Sunday mornings in bed (OK, I must confess that I have drifled off into fantasy land at this point).

Fantasy weekends aside though, I do find it really helpful to have 1 fun project on the needles that I know I can focus on and make some serious progress on, whenever we are doing family stuff or if we are out and about.

This weekend I will be mostly knitting on my current obsession. It isn't a Find Your Fade - although I love some of the versions I'm seeing. But it is my interpretation of playing with some of the speckled yarns from my stash.

It's quite addictive knitting so far so I'm hoping that this weekend will see some serious speckled growth.

A finished object for Friday

It's a happy feeling when a finished object, ready to wear coincides with an FO Friday.

My persistence and the principle of keeping this project active all week paid off and I'm tried to be able to wear my Foolproof Cowl today. I can't remember the last time I had such fun with a project and I absolutely loved the unusual construction which kept me guessing until the end. The pattern was originally released as a mystery KAL so I deliberately didn't read ahead and just worked each clue as it was presented to me

The finished cowl - knit in two shades of fabulous Countess Ablaze yarn is wonderfully light and squishy. I did the shorter of the two versions but there is still plenty of length- enough to wrap comfortably twice around my neck.

We may not have any snow here - despite dire weather warnings of Snow! but I have a new cowl to keep me warm as I scrape the ice off my car this morning.

I can resist anything..except temptation

As Oscar Wilde once said, I can resist anything except temptation

For weeks now I've been seeing fabulous shawls being planned on Instagram for the Find Your Fade pattern. An elongated asymmetrical shawl which uses a number of fabulous speckled yarns which play against each other to great effect. There has been lots of plotting and planning about colours especially since several of the colours at the beginning call for less than 40g of yarn - making it an ideal stash buster project. 

So I have resisted and resisted as I have Far Too much On...but then of course I caved. But, me being me I decided to change things up a little. I decided that I wanted an all garter stitch version  (the Find Your Fade pattern has textured panels that I didn't care for). Also I'm not a fan of working the type of decrease the pattern calls for.

So in the end I cast on for a different shape- I'm aiming for an asymmetric crescent - but I will still be using some beautiful speckled-ish yarns from my stash which I hope will work really well together. By necessity this will be a longer term project because of the aforementioned Work but it should be a nice relaxing garter stitch project to pull out whenever the going gets tough over the next few weeks.

I'll keep you posted.

The best bits.

One of the best bits about designing is neatly summed up in this photo. Delightful, squishy garter stitch on its way to becoming a lovely, warm shawl in a fabulously soft shade of grey. And a beautifully bright yarn waiting patiently to be added into it. 

I am knitting with the Fibre Company's Cumbria yarn which is a DK weight and I'm aiming for a shawl which is light and squishy but also warmly substantial too. The kind of thing you could fling over your shoulders whilst you enjoy your morning coffee in peace. OK, it's wishful thinking on that last point I must admit. There is never any shortage of coffee around here but as for peace and quiet...That's another thing altogether.

Normally when designing I make numerous swatches beforehand and I know in advance how the colour placement and stripes will work out. With this one though I am just going with the flow and will add in the colour when it feels right. This beautiful buttery yellow/grey yarn is crying out to be included but I want it to be an accent to the grey rather than the main focus. 

A few more rows I think, and then it's time will come