Sunday, May 22, 2016

Hibs won! My husband and I, unaccustomed to watching football, gave up 15 minutes before the end, with Rangers in the lead and apparently in command of the field. So we missed a thrilling finish and a rather interesting riot to follow.

I’m much enjoying the daily teaser-haps from the forthcoming book. I was wrong about Carol Feller’s pattern – it’s not available yet. I jumped to the wrong conclusion from the fact that it is in three projects already – but that turns out to be Carol and her test knitters. My conclusion, that the designers in this book retain their copyrights, may still be on track.

I was surprised to learn yesterday that “happenstance” is an American word. It’s not one that exactly trips off the tongue every day or so, but it had never occurred to me that it is not in general pan-atlantic circulation. Dictionaries confirm. The shorter OED doesn’t have it, Webster’s International (which has everything except for “Kitchener stitch”) gives it as “humorous, U.S.” I never thought of it as humorous. I thought it was just a useful word.


I made some progress with the Neap Shawl. The point where the straight central section turns south towards the tail is clearly obvious. But only about 10 stitches have been eliminated so far, and the garter stitch section feels as wide as ever to the knitter. I think it's time for a picture. 

14 comments:

  1. How interesting to hear about the etymology of 'happenstance'. I had no idea it was American or that it should be/have been considered humorous. I doubt there would be many would agree that there was any connotation of humor attached to the word. The world of words is so fascinating, isn't it?
    There are knitters out there (of which I am not one) who take great pleasure in knitting, one by one, through all the designs in a particular book. I'll be interested to see if such a group pops up on Ravelry at publication.

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  2. Anonymous1:05 PM

    I am loving your adventures with Neap Tide and have learned some of the ins and outs of increases and decreases which usually befuddle me since I am resistant to the math - I can do it; I just don't want to. Chloe

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  3. I'm sorry that Neap Tide is causing you to do extra work, but I look forward to seeing it. By happenstance, I've been testing different weights of yarn labeled fingering, which varies quite a bit. More to follow.

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    1. I just sent for some "heavy lace weight" cashmere and snow fox (I thought it would be softer than it is), and it's finer than any other lace weight I have. Aren't there any standards?!?

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    2. interested to hear about the cashmere and snow fox - I have been resisting temptation so far, and your feedback suggests that it might continue to be resistable. Does it bloom on washing?

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  4. I don't think 'happenstance' is humorous. A little bit archaic, maybe but certainly still in use as a real word. "Did you two plan to meet for lunch?" "No we were just there by happenstance, so we ate together."

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  5. Another vote for happenstance being not humorous but merely a useful word. Language is very strange.

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  6. I knew of happenstance, but I can think of another word's etymology that blew my mind. Soccer. It's not an American word, rather a English one. Apparently the game was originally called Association Football, and got nicknamed soccer. When it wandered over our way, we already had a game called football and UK football was referred to by both football and soccer so we used the one that didn't already have a meaning for us.

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    1. Ah but why the "soccer? I haven't looked anything up but suspect it may have come from as-"soc"-iation - it's the sort of tortured pronunciation that was the thing backalong.

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    2. "Backalong" -- another great word, and one I hadn't heard before.

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  7. Finding your blog was a fortuitous happenstance.

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  8. Now there's a mouthful Weavinfool!!! I laughed out loud when I read your response!!!

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  9. Anonymous6:05 PM

    My Webster's Unabridged (vintage 1959) calls it "colloquial." No reference to humor.
    Carol in Long Island

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  10. I am old enough to have been raised on English, rather than American, English. I am Canadian Using the proper English spellings of words was never an issue until I had to spell American for a job. Writing "check" for "cheque" still rankles. The language is changing too fast for me. Nouns are becoming verbs, and the media misspell words far too frequently to claim them as typing errors. "Honey I shrunk the kids" is one example that bothers me. Ah well, language is meant to be dynamic, and the lack of new words being added to the Acadian dialect is one of the concerns of the local Acadians, so I guess there are pros to "source" becoming a verb. I refuse, however, to use "switch up" and "change out". Those uses sound very uneducated and downright silly.

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