Facts about Knitting as Code and More

I’ve been seeing this old post from the Telegraph in my news feed over the past couple of days, and it is really interesting if you like knitting history.

We probably all know about Madame Defarge, the fictional knitter who stitched the names of victims at the guillotine during the French Revolution. While there’s no evidence such knitters actually existed, it’s a powerful symbol of the power of knitting.

There’s a lot of talk these days about knitting and other fiber arts being like computer code but, as this article points out, there was at least one time knitting actually was used to transmit secret messages. In World War II Belgium, knitters were stationed in apartments that overlooked the railyards and stitched a record of the kinds of trains that passed. (I looked for more about this online but couldn’t find anything, but I assume this is true.)

It’s also true that in the UK it was illegal to ship knitting patterns abroad during the war because it was feared they might contain hidden codes.

The article also looks at yarnbombing, extreme knitting (though the record for running a marathon while knitting is now held by David Babcock) and shares a bit more knitting history and lore. It’s a fun read.

Did you know there are actually knit islands? (Probably more woven than knit actually, but certainly a fun fact to share with anyone who thinks knitting isn’t useful!)

[Photo of Rosalie Crutchley as Madame Defarge from the Robert Grant archive, via the Telegraph.]

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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