“I enjoy acronyms.”

“…Recursive Acronyms Crablike "RACRECIR" Especially Create Infinite Regress” 

In my travels, I have read many a knitting blog, spent many hours trawling knitting forums (well, Ravelry mainly), and have had to re-read knitting patterns far too many times. Through these adventures in knit-land, I have had to learn a new sort of language: the language of Knitting Acronyms.

Some are pretty obvious (FO = Finished Object). Some make no sense but once you learn what it stands for you wonder how you didn’t twig (ISO = In Search Of). And some are brilliantly obscure (SABLE = Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy).

So, for posterity, here is my list (so far) of knitting terms:

BOR = Beginning of Round.

CAL = Crochet Along.

CIP = Crocheting In Public.

Colorway = The name or number of the colour of a yarn.

DPN = Double Pointed Needles.

DS = Destash (to get rid of unwanted yarn.)

EOR = End Of Row.

FO = Finished Object.

Frog = To rip back (“rip it, rip it”) by removing the needles from the project and pulling on the loose end of the yarn. Generally used when the mistake you made is a few rows ago, or when completely unraveling an entire item.

Frog Pond = A storage place for knitted things waiting to be frogged.

Gifted = Giving yarn/FO to others for free.

ISO = In Search Of.

KAL = Knit Along (where a group of people knit the same pattern and discuss it in a thread to give each other pointers, tips and encouragement.)

KIP = Knitting In Public.

Knitworthy = Someone worth knitting for (not just because they are lovely, but because they receive the items with enthusiasm and wear/use them.)

LK = Loom Knitting.

LYS = Local Yarn Store.

LYSO = Local Yarn Store Owner.

MK = Machine Knitting.

Muggle = Non-knitter.

OTH = On The Hooks.

OTN = On The Needles.

PM = Place Marker.

Pooling = When one colour in a variegated yarn groups or ‘pools’ together in one area.

SABLE = Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy (my personal favourite, but not something I aspire to!)

SQ = Sweater Quantity (enough yarn of one type to make a jumper!)

Tink = To undo knitted stitches by reversing the knitting motion, to go back and fix an error on that row. ‘Tink’ is ‘Knit’ backwards – essentially you are un-knitting each stitch.

UFO = UnFinished Object (a WIP that has been abandoned or neglected.)

W&T = Wrap and Turn (a technique to get short rows. Instead of knitting all the way from one side to the other and then knitting back again, you knit partway down the row, turn, and knit back.)

WIP = Work In Progress.

Yarn barf = a big lump of yarn that has accidentally become tangled together in a spaghetti-like mess. Heartbreaking.

*Quote from Douglas R. Hofstadter