Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Wooly "Words" of the Week: fiber acronyms

Perhaps due to texting in our pop culture, acronyms seem to be a more common part of everyday language.  Spinning, knitting, and fiber arts have their own particular acronyms that are universally understood by its native speakers.  Here is a list of my favorites & most commonly used:

WIP:  work-in-progress, which is a project that a spinner/knitter/etc considers current and is usually located where it can be picked up conveniently, such as on coffee tables, nightstands, & desks and in purses & bags for those on-the-go WIPs

FO:  finished object; spinners often consider yarn itself a finished object, while a knitter or weaver sees yarn as just the beginning of a project

UFO:  unfinished object, which is a WIP so old that you can't in good conscience call it a WIP any longer since there has been no progress to speak of and is usually located in an inconvenient location, such as in a dusty plastic box stuffed in a closet or under a bed

VM:  vegetable matter, which are the bits of seeds, grass, and chaff that can be found in raw wool

WTF:  yeah, this means exactly what you think it does and is most often uttered when fibers tangle, yarns break, stitches drop, or a pattern error is found

1 comment:

  1. Last night I was putting my single on to my niddy noddy and there were lots and lots of WTF's! I snap my yarn every other second. I also a load of tangling as well. XD

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