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The Allusionist

186. Ravels

The Allusionist

Helen Zaltzman

Arts, Education, Words, Linguistics, History, Entertainment, Helen Zaltzman, Etymology, Society & Culture

4.73.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We’ve got knitting! We’ve got eponyms!! We’ve got knitting eponyms!!! Which come with a whole load of battles, f-boys, duels, baseball, espionage, scandals - and socks, lots of socks.

Fibre artist and Yarn Stories podcaster Miriam Felton discusses why grafting should ditch the name 'kitchener stitch'; we learn about the eponymous cardigan; and three towns in Ontario take pretty different approaches to having problematic namesakes.

Content note: this episode contains mentions of war, death and injuries.

Get the transcript of this episode, and find out more about the topics therein, at theallusionist.org/ravels.

This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Martin Austwick of Neutrino Watch and Song By Song podcasts provides the Allusionist music.

Become a member of the Allusioverse at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you get regular livestreams and watchalong parties - AND to hang out with your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community. This month, we’ll be watching Muppet Christmas Carol together, and Last Holiday starring Queen Latifah, as well as the festive Pottery Throwdown and Bake Off specials.

The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch via facebook.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, youtube.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/allusionistshow.

Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk lovingly and winningly about your product or thing on the show in 2024, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:

• Wildgrain, the subscription box for sourdough breads, fresh pastas, and artisanal pastries that you can cook from frozen in 25 minutes. Get $30 off your first box, PLUS free croissants in every box, when you start your subscription at Wildgrain.com/allusionist or use promo code ALLUSIONIST at checkout.
• Ravensburger, who make all sorts of jigsaw puzzles, including ones you design yourself. Buy Ravensburger puzzles in your preferred puzzle emporium and from Ravensburger's official websites.
• Bombas, whose mission is to make the comfiest clothes ever, and match every item sold with an equal item donated. Go to bombas.com/allusionist to get 20% off your first purchase.
Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online empire. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.

Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is the illusionist in which I, Helen Zaltzman, have been having an argument since this time last year about whether language is more tender if you brine it.

0:12.0

In today's episode, we've got Nitti... the language is more tender if you brine it.

0:13.1

In today's episode, we've got knitting.

0:15.6

We've got eponyms.

0:17.1

We've got knitting eponyms, which come with a whole load of battles.

0:21.5

F-boys, jewels, baseball, scandals, and socks, lots of socks.

0:28.0

Content warning, there are mentions of war and death on with the show.

0:34.0

I brought my current knitting project to show you.

0:42.0

Oh yes, please. My first experiment. I brought my current knitting project to show you.

0:42.8

Oh yes, please.

0:44.2

My first experiment with the color work

0:47.4

beyond like horizontal stripes.

0:49.6

Oh, I love color work.

0:50.8

So just hitting this like big long sausage with different patterns that I've improvised.

0:55.6

Hey! I love it! I am Miriam Felton, also known as Mim on the internet.

1:03.0

And I am a textile artist and a paper artist,

1:06.7

primarily textiles, but I'm also a history nerd.

1:09.2

So I love getting into the deep history of the terminology of the act of making things all sorts of stuff like that.

1:18.0

Now I think a lot of people would not assume that knitting might be a hotbed of problematic vocabulary, but prove them wrong.

1:27.0

Well, have I got stories from you?

1:31.0

Oh! There's actually a big movement in the knitting world and there was some big, big drama and a big old split between the right and the left in the knitting world.

1:49.0

One of the things that I'm really passionate about changing is the term kitchener. So kitchener stitch is a form of grafting.

...

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