Ask Jean revisited 3

Thought this question from my column might be helpful to anyone who's relatively new to knitting and its jargon.  Technical abbreviations are usually included in patterns but for new knitters joining online conversations things can get a bit sticky when the acronyms come out. 

I have to say though that the only acronym I'm getting excited about right now is SCD, can't wait for the final on Saturday.  I think Harry should come through, although Chelsee is also a fabulous dancer and Jason seems to have come good at the right moment - take a look at his brilliant Argentine tango - fab-u-lous, my favourite dance of the series... so far!  I love dancing so watching Strictly is the next best thing for me to actually doing it - pure unadulterated delicious escapism, without moving a muscle other than those needed when I'm jumping up and down getting excited about the moves and the judging! My favourite judge is Craig, he tells it like it is, but I also love Bruno, who's an absolute sweetie and never fails to make me laugh. 

Back to the query in question, another reason I chose this one was that I noticed it was illustrated by my beloved cat, Billie, who died early last year.  He always used to sit in my waste paper basket whilst I was working on a pattern and had an BIG personality and I miss him enormously.

Q   Help!  I have just learned how to knit and I really like it.  I got your magazine, but find I am confused by a term you use. What is DK???  I am seeing this throughout the magazine, for instance, on page 48 under Extreme Knitting it says, "For this pattern any yarns around the weight of 4-ply to DK can be used." 

Maureen Yoder , by email

A   Don't worry, knit acronyms can be horribly baffling to the uninitiated.  DK, which simply means Double Knitting, is a versatile medium weight yarn, used in many projects, which knits up to approximately 22 stitches/28 rows to 4”/10cm on 4mm (US 6) needles.  It can come in wool, cotton, silk, linen or any mixture – DK is the weight of yarn.   However, you are clearly in need of a KB (US term, knit buddy) to come to your rescue in future. We could start our own Knit Buddy List.  Meanwhile here’s some more knit speak demystified:

BUFO                  Boring Un-Finished Object

DPs, or DPNs     double points, or double-pointed needles

FROG                 To frog it is to unravel a project row by row.  In the US this is called ripping. Frogs croak rippit, rippit. get it?
IN THE QUEUE  Projects waiting to be knit

KAL                     Knit-A-Long, where a group of knitters on a forum or through a blog will all knit the same project and share their progress

KAT                     Knitting Against Time (a lot of that about at this time of year!)

KIP                      Knitting in public

LOL                     Laughed out loud – you have to sometimes!

LYS                     Local yarn shop

LYSO                  Local yarn shop owner

SABLE                Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy (don't we all have our own version of this?)

SEX                    Stash enrichment expedition

SnB                    Stitch 'n Bitch -  either referring to the books by Debbie Stoller, or referring to a local group of people who meet up to knit

STASH               Your personal cache of yarn

TINK                   Unstitching a project one stitch at a time – knit written backwards, get it?

TOAD                 Trashed object abandoned in disgust

UFO/FO             Unfinished/finished object

WIP                     Work in progress

WYIB                  With yarn in back

WYIF                  With yarn in front

YAS                    Yarn Acquisition Syndrome - the inability to resist the temptation to buy yarn

NAYY                 No affiliation, yada-yada. Usually said right after enthusiastically recommending a product, store, etc.

YMMV               Yarn Mileage May Vary, also known as YGMV (yarn gauge may vary) and YMV (yardage may vary), meaning this is my experience but yours may be different.

Meanwhile am hoping to actually acquire a tree today, I've been saying this every day for about a week now.  But then the next quest is to find some Strictly glitter balls to deck the halls with!  Keep dancing!