Knitting Glossary
Definitions for common knitting terms.
For explanations of the abbreviations commonly found in knitting patterns, there is an excellent list here.
Aran: Common yarn weight; or a style of knitwear originating in Scotland involving cables and embellishment.
Baby Weight: Common yarn weight
Bind Off: Process of working a finished knitted object off your needles and securing the stitches. Also Cast Off.
Bind Off in Pattern: Keeping the pattern active while binding off.
Blocking: Finishing process to set the final shape of a knitted object.
Bulky Weight: Common yarn weight
Cable: Twisted designs that cross over one another.
Cast On: Process of putting new stitches on your needles.
Cast Off: See Bind Off
Chunky Weight: Common yarn weight
Circular Needles: Two knitting needles attached to a flexible cord. For knitting in the round.
Continental Knitting: Style of knitting in which the yarn is held in the left hand.
Decrease: Variety of techniques for reducing the number of stitches in a row for the purpose of shaping knitted fabric.
DK (Double Knit) Weight: Common yarn weight
Double Point Needle: Straight needle with a point at each end. For knitting in the round.
Dropped Stitch: Stitch that has slipped off the needle and not been worked.
Dye Lot: Single batch of yarn dyed together, making all the balls from one dye lot identical.
English Knitting: Style of knitting in which the the yarn is held in the right hand.
Fair Isle: Knitting method involving frequent color changes in the same row.
Fibre: Strands from animal, plant, or man-made sources that are twisted together to make yarn.
Fingering Weight: Common yarn weight.
Frogging: Ripping out stitches from a knitted project. A silly pun on Rip it! Rip it! that makes me giggle every time.
Garter Stitch: Pattern created by knitting every row on straight needles.
Gauge: Number of stitches and rows in a measured area.
Hank: A long loop of yarn.
Increase: A variety of techniques for increasing the number of stitches in a row for the purpose of shaping knitted fabric.
Intarsia: A technique that creates blocks of color on knitted fabric.
KIP: Acronym for Knitting In Public. What you’re doing when you take your projects out of the house with you.
Kitchener Stitch: Technique for creating an invisible steam between two rows of live stitches.
Knit Stitch: Basic stitch that forms the foundation of all knitting. Obviously, I guess.
Knitting in the Round: Technique for knitting tubular items like socks.
Knitwise: Inserting the right needle in the front of a stitch from left to right.
Lace Weight: Common yarn weight.
Live Stitch: Stitch on a needle that is not cast off.
LYS: Acronym for Local Yarn Store. They feed the need.
Pattern: Instructions for making a knitted object.
Ply: Each strand twisted into a yarn.
Purl Stitch: Basic stitch that forms the foundation of knitting. Less popular than its flashy sister the knit stitch, but still critical to mastering knitting.
Purlwise: Inserting the right needle into the front of a stitch from right to left.
Reverse Stockinette: Stitch pattern where the wrong side of stockinette is used as the right side. Also Reverse Stocking Stitch.
Ribbing: Stitch pattern that creates a stretchy fabric with vertical ridges.
Ridges: Bumps formed by two rows of knit stitches on both sides of garter stitch.
Right Side: Front side of a knitted fabric.
Row: All the knitted stitches worked from left to right.
Seed Stitch: Stitch pattern made from a combination of knit stitches and purl stitches.
S.E.X.: Acronym for Stash Expansion Expedition. Any trip that leads to the purchase of more yarn, especially if you buy it with no project in mind, just because you want to.
Shaping: The process of adding stitches (increasing) or subtracting stitches (decreasing) to give shape to knitted fabric.
Short Rows: Shaping method used to add curves to a knitted fabric without increasing or decreasing.
Skein: Ball of yarn wound so that the end may be pulled out from the center.
Slip Stitch: Passing a stitch from left needle to right needle without working it.
Sock Weight: Common yarn weight.
Sport Weight: Common yarn weight.
Stash: Collection of yarn a knitter doesn’t need immediately but puts away for later.
Stitch: Loop on a knitting needle that is worked to create a knitted fabric.
Stockinette: Pattern created by knitting alternating rows of knit stitch and purl stitch. Also Stocking Stitch.
Straight Needle: Knitting needle with no bends or curves that is pointed on one end and has a knob on the other.
Stranding: Technique for making color changes where a yarn is carried around stitches on the back side of knitted fabric.
Super Bulky Weight: Common yarn weight.
Superwash Wool: Wool that is treated to allow machine washing.
Swatch: Small sample of knitted fabric to test gauge or pattern.
Take-in: Amount a fabric shrinks across its width because of the stitch pattern used, compared to stocking stitch.
Take-up: Amount a fabric shrinks along its length because of the stitch pattern used, compared to stocking stitch.
Tension: How tightly or loosely the individual knitter knits a fabric.
UFO: Acronym for Unfinished Object. Something most of us have a few of floating around.
Variegated Yarn: Yarn dyed different colors at intervals.
Weight: How thick a particular yarn is.
Work Even: Working in the pattern without increasing or decreasing.
Worsted Weight: Common yarn weight.
Wrong Side: Back side of a knitted fabric.
Yarn: Fibre that has been twisted into long strands for the creation of fabric.
Yarn End/Tail: Strand of yarn leftover after casting on, binding off, or changing yarn.
Yarn Over: Making a new stitch by wrapping yarn over the right needle without working it.
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