I so often see articles and on-line patterns for knit items using the term stocking stitch instead of stockinette and it really drove me nuts. Since they mean stockinette stitch, the term stocking stitch jumps out like a clump of black cat hair on an orange sweater.
I am not sure why there's an overabundance of the mis-use of stocking stitch where stockinette stitch is plainly meant but I came up with a few theories.
One, that Word doesn't like stockinette stitch so it underlines stockinette with a squiqqly red line to draw the writer's attention to the word. The writer sees that squiqqly red line and desperately tries to replace stockinette with something that Word likes. Just because Word does not like stockinette stitch does not mean that it is valid to use stocking stitch in place of stockinette.
Second, that the writer genuinely thinks people are saying stocking stitch because they have never seen stockinette stitch written down and their entire knitting experience has been audible. With the wide availability of videos on YouTube and other forums, a lot of new knitters watch these videos to learn how to knit. It's awesome that so many people are interested in knitting and inspired to take up the knitting needles because you can Google everything now. But, wipe out that ear wax. It is stockinette stitch when you knit one side and purl the other side. It is not stocking stitch.
And then I found out that in UK and Canada they say stocking stitch instead of stockinette. Color me blue with embarrassment. I heard a professional crocheter from Australia talking and the crochet terms were pronounced so differently that it took some effort to catch on to what she actually meant. I should have investigated the possibility of the term stocking stitch being legitimate elsewhere in the world before going gung-ho on my tirade.
These are the lessons that stick with us longest.
I am not sure why there's an overabundance of the mis-use of stocking stitch where stockinette stitch is plainly meant but I came up with a few theories.
One, that Word doesn't like stockinette stitch so it underlines stockinette with a squiqqly red line to draw the writer's attention to the word. The writer sees that squiqqly red line and desperately tries to replace stockinette with something that Word likes. Just because Word does not like stockinette stitch does not mean that it is valid to use stocking stitch in place of stockinette.
Second, that the writer genuinely thinks people are saying stocking stitch because they have never seen stockinette stitch written down and their entire knitting experience has been audible. With the wide availability of videos on YouTube and other forums, a lot of new knitters watch these videos to learn how to knit. It's awesome that so many people are interested in knitting and inspired to take up the knitting needles because you can Google everything now. But, wipe out that ear wax. It is stockinette stitch when you knit one side and purl the other side. It is not stocking stitch.
And then I found out that in UK and Canada they say stocking stitch instead of stockinette. Color me blue with embarrassment. I heard a professional crocheter from Australia talking and the crochet terms were pronounced so differently that it took some effort to catch on to what she actually meant. I should have investigated the possibility of the term stocking stitch being legitimate elsewhere in the world before going gung-ho on my tirade.
These are the lessons that stick with us longest.
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