Fibers

[adrian_turtle]

I am considering using a peg loom, as I have not done since 1977. The person lending it to me speaks of ergonomic hooks, and said I should remind her to give me some thick wool, because the wool in the donation box is too thin for a beginner. It didn't occur to me for quite some time that she could possibly have meant wool from a sheep. Obviously you give a beginner some kind of synthetic. Especially when the idea is to make hats to give away to people who might be allergic to wool.

I sort of expect that in casual usage, yarn for knitting is called wool, thread for sewing is called cotton, and the special thread for embroidering is called silk. Is this standard? Regional? Generational? I thought people who actually did fiber crafts would be more specific, but this is somebody who is quite deliberately inviting people who can't knit to join the knitting group, so who knows.

Comments

[hobbitbabe]

Definitely regional and probably generational. If your donor/lender learned a long time ago, especially from UK or Canadian sources, she probably doesn't mean "100% from a sheep"

I grew up knitting in Canada, and learning from Anglo-Scottish relatives. In our tradition, it's all wool.

With the advent of crafting on the internet, particularly the knitty.com website (circa 2005) and Ravelry (circa 2008), I started hearing a lot more American terminology used by Canadians. Nowadays, it's more common for the young people I meet to have learned about fibre crafts from the American-centred internet sources, or from their peers, not so much from parents and grandparents.

I'm pretty stubborn about some language things. In my head, it's all wool, and to friends who will understand me. Also, I finish a piece by casting off, not binding off, and the things I make with a big closed pouch for four fingers are mitts, not mittens.