The Meaning of the Word

[dotinthesky]

They say that King Frederik was away at Elsinore. They say that Queen Sofie, when she was young and before she had begun her habit of scolding and cursing and hoarding money, loved to be rowed in a little boat to this island and there sit in the sunshine and indulge in secret in her passion for knitting. This activity had been proscribed throughout the land as tending to induce in women an idle trance of mind, in which their proper thoughts would fly away and be replaced by fancy. Men called this state 'woolgathering'. That the wool itself could be fashioned into useful articles of haberdashery such as stockings or night bonnets made them no less superstitiously afraid of the knitting craze. They believed that any knitted night bonnet might contain among its million stitches the longings of their wives that they could never satisfy and which in consequence would give them nightmares of the darkest kind. The knitted stocking they feared yet more completely as the probable instrument of their own enfeeblement. They imagined their feet becoming swollen and all the muscles of their legs beginning to grow weak.

- from Music & Silence, by Rose Tremain

Comments

[izzybees]

This is fantastic! Thank you so much.

By the way, I saw a t-shirt in Tower today that has your boyfriend's face on it.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Was it his face pre-midnight or post-midnight?

[izzybees]

Pre. :)

[la-mascherina.livejournal.com]

Hmm, intriguing read.
No wonder E. eyes me suspiciously whenever I get the size 10 needles out. I don't know why, I am sure he will be over the moon with joy when he receives his mohair sweater/strait jacket for Christmas. I admit I fell into a daydream about Scarlett Johansen and accidentally added extra purls on the sleeve pattern, still I'm sure it will come in useful.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

My mom taught me crochet when I was a boy. I think she already knew back then I was a "girly man".