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.]

One of the fun things about knitters is that we will use a holiday theme on any kind of project. From Easter bunny socks to Christmas sweaters, there’s no combination of holiday motif and knitwear genre we won’t combine.

Case in point: Halloween cowls.

This fun cowl from Sweet Vireo Designs features large carved pumpkins and little cats and skulls. It uses two colors of DK weight yarn and I love the multicolored yarn for the background color on this one. And the braids! So cute.

Spooky Season by Jocelyn Tunney (also on Ravelry) uses fingering weight yarn in two colors to make a design with crescent moons and eyes. There are two circumferences and two heights available so you can make it a neck hugger or a slightly bigger project if you like.

Make more moons with the Broom Riding Cowl from Vanessa Ewing Knits. This two color pattern looks extra fun with a multicolored yarn for the colorwork, but you can use a solid as well. It calls for DK weight yarn but there is also a fingering weight version if you have some yarn in your stash you want to use.

Jinx Made has another fun Halloween cowl, this time covered in skulls. South Philly Skulls uses DK weight yarn and comes in two lengths, and there’s also a matching hat pattern, both of which can be found on Ravelry.

The Ghost Stories cowl from Melissa Knit Wear is a two-color cowl with ghosts of different sizes on the body. It uses DK weight yarn, and average sized skeins will allow you to get two cowls out of two skeins. It also calls for stitch markers to help you keep your place in the chart.

Or stitch up a cowl with a giant bat on it. The Nightling Cowl from Jen Immer uses DK weight yarn in two colors and has moons and a large bat on it. This pattern can be found on Ravelry.

How about spooky trees? The Weirwood Cowl from Andrea Krüß-Anders is inspired by the weirwood trees in the Game of Thrones books, and is worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn. You can find this free pattern on Ravelry.

If a bandana cowl is more your thing, try Cowloween from Tellybean Knits (on Ravelry). This colorful design is worked from the top down and features pumpkins, ghosts and candy colored stripes, and is worked in a light fingering weight yarn. There are kid and adult sizes available.

Have you read?