Knit one, purl one – vocabulary for knitters

Zum Endspurt des Winters schauen wir uns in diesem Beitrag englische Begriffe aus der Welt des Strickens an. Eine Masche rechts, eine Masche links und los geht’s!

By Moya Irvine

1              What do Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kate Moss have in common? They are all knitters. Knitting is booming as a hobby: there are 38 million knitters in the US according to the Craft Yarn Council, and the UK Hand Knitting Association puts the number of British knitters at 7.5 million.

2              Knitting may be a traditional art, but knitters are making use of modern technology to find patterns and exchange tips. Many patterns are available on the internet and can be downloaded for free or for a small fee. One of the best places to find free patterns is the Ravelry website – a kind of social media site for knitters. Ravelry now has more than 4 million members and a great stock of searchable patterns. Most of them are only in English, and if you want to use them, you’ll need to know the correct terms. So here’s our quick guide to knitting in English.

3              First of all you have to cast on your stitches. The two basic stitches are knit and purl. If you knit and purl stitches alternately, you create ribbing. Sometimes you need to increase the number of stitches on your needles. You do this by making a stitch. You may also have to decrease. This is done at the beginning or end of a row by knitting two stitches together or knitting two together through the back of the loops. When you have finished your work, you cast off.

4              Most patterns are in stocking or stockinette stitch: one knit row followed by a purl row. For garter stitch, use only knit rows. Your work has a right side and a wrong side.

5              Before you even start to knit, you should check your tension, usually by knitting a 10cm or 4 inch square and counting the stitches and rows. You should also use the right kind of yarn for your pattern: two-ply is very fine, while 4-ply is thicker.

6              Incidentally, knitting is a great conversation starter. If you sit on a train or in any public space and get out your needles, someone will always ask you what you’re knitting.

0–1           knit one, purl one eine rechts, eine links — knitter Stricker(in) — craft yarn Handarbeitsgarn — council Rat — association Verband — to put a number of s.th. at … etw. auf … beziffern

2–3           pattern Muster — fee Gebühr — stock Bestand — searchable durchsuchbar — term Begriff — to cast on stitches Maschen anschlagen — alternately im Wechsel — ribbing Rippenmuster — needle Nadel — to make a stitch e-e Masche zunehmen — through the back of the loops von hinten (l. Schlinge) — to cast off abketten

4–6           stocking/stockinette stitch glatt rechts — garter stitch kraus rechts — right side Vorderseite — wrong side Rückseite — to check the tension e-e Maschenprobe machen — two-ply zweifädig — incidentally übrigens

Photo: Pixabay