On Knitwear, London and Beginnings
I have begun stalking people's knitwear on Ravelry. I see a piece of handknit, recognise the pattern and search the Ravelry database until I find the actual piece of knitwear and the knitter. Today I saw a pair of really, really cute handknitted gloves. I asked the girl about the pattern and the yarn, and I found the actual gloves on Ravelry some five minutes ago. I love Ravelry - even if I have become a demented stalker determined to track down handknitted items so I can mark them as a favourite.
Notable knitting blog post about knitting terminology and differences in language. I do so love when people get really passionate about words. English is my second language and my knitting terminology is a sad mixture of British English and American English. I say "yarn" most of the time and "yarn over" ALL of the time, but I do try to say "tension square" and "double knitting". Funnily enough I have English words in my knitting vocabulary for which I have no Danish equivalent. "Skein"? "Lace knitting"? It took me a long time to figure out that "a ball winder" is a "krydsnøgleapparat" (and then took my mum some dedicated googling to find out where she could get me one for Christmas). I'm still not sure, though, how to translate "hønsestrik" into English - it was this funky 1970s political knitting phenomenon in Denmark which was sort of fair isle goes Peruvian folklore with added Marxism and second-wave feminism. You can see some modern day hønsestrik here although it seems pretty relaxed (and is knitted to a pattern unlike the original hønsestrik) compared to some of the stuff I remember from my childhood.
Tonight I booked a flight to London for a work-related event. It still feels very strange just to pop in and out of London in one day. Sometimes I forget that I live just a few hundred miles from all these mythical places - York, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton and London - which possessed such magic to a little girl in rural Denmark who read way too many books. I lived in London some sixteen years ago and have been a frequent visitor, but I have not visited since 2004. It'll feel peculiar to land at the airport, get the train and step out in the middle of the city. How my life has changed.
(Addendum: David bought me a cherry/geranium cupcake today to celebrate a new beginning to my life. He is the best.)
January 6th, 2010 - 09:58
Indeed an interesting blogpost on knitting terminology :)
January 6th, 2010 - 11:55
I remember hønsestrik, my interest in knitting was inspired by a book called Everybody’s Knitting, a Danish book but I can’t remember who it was by and am too tired to go and look upstairs today. The patterns were made up as you went along, very colourful and fun. I made a little vest for a friend’s baby and began knitting a long skirt but it was so thick and itchy I knew I’d never wear it. It would have been good for the weather this week though!
January 6th, 2010 - 12:17
Skein=fed
Lace knitting=hulmønster
Anything else I can do for you? ;-))
Besides that, I envy you the proximity to the Places of Mythology. ;-)
Enjoy!
January 6th, 2010 - 13:18
I bought my first copy of Yarn Forward the other week, and it took me *forever* to get what the name meant. I need to find some American/English knitting dictionary so I can translate the patterns! I knit Continental style too, just to make it more confusing.
January 7th, 2010 - 22:27
Interesting blogpost on knitting terminology. Thank you for the link.
Re the Danish term for skein, I don’t quite agree with Anne-Lise. Sorry, Anne-Lise :)
My granny would have used the term fed (cf. http://ordnet.dk/ods/opslag?opslag=fed&submit=S%F8g), and perhaps my mother, but I think the current term is bundt (cf. garn.dk).
Lace knitting is hulmønster eller kniplingestrik.
January 12th, 2010 - 13:54
Hehe… I’m a bit old-fashioned, I guess. I wouldn’t use bundt about yarn, ever. Bundt is used about carrots. But that’s just me… ;-))