Every hobby has a vocabulary that is peculiar to it, and knitting is no different. Here are some knitting slang terms explained in case you, like me, came across them and wondered what on earth was being said.
DS means to Destash
Destash by getting rid of your stock of yarn either by selling or trading it in some way or other. Some knitters say they are destashing by only using that store of wool to make their next project – ie use only what you have and not buy in more yarn ( very difficult to do as it is so easy to buy more yarn!)
FLY
FLY means to knit something from leftover yarn
FO
FO is a finished object – a completed knitting project
Frogging
Frogging means to pull out a piece of knitting. Sometimes I have done a bit of knitting for the last couple of hours usually on a dish cloth pattern and then have decided that I don’t like it or I have made an error. I remove the project from the needles and unravel it. The word frogging comes from the analogy of ripping it out – rip it rip it – aka a frog sound!
KAL
KAL – this is a knit along where several people get together to complete a project which is generally the same pattern. The group can then engage and receive and give support to each other.
LYS
LYS is short for a local yarn store
OTN
OTN means “on the needles”
TINK
TINK is knit spelt backwards and as you guessed means to knit backwards or unpick. Generally or hopefully it is unknitting a few stitches or at most a row or two.
UFO
UFO is an unfinished object. This is generally a project that has been on the go for some time but has been left untouched for a while. This happens often for a specific reason such as running out of the correct type of yarn, not being able to understand the pattern or a long-term project that has been pushed on the back burner in favour of shorter projects.
WIP
WIP is a work in progress that is a knitting project that you are still working on. Many of us have several of these WIPs on the go at the same time. I particularly like to have several dishcloth WIPs all in various stages of development. I am addicted to trying out different patterns and just love the one hundred per cent cotton yarns too!
Yarn Crawl
Yarn Crawl is when enthusiastic knitters join together and visit LYS (local yarn stores) in their area
Do you know any other terms? Share them as a comment below and I will add them to this page!