ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

How is that you think you know a lot about lots of things. But you never do. Today I read about a clothing item called a gaiter. I looked at the photographs and then I looked up the word (gaiter(s)) – and they simply do not relate.

Wikipedia states:
Gaiters are garments worn over the shoe and lower pant leg, and used primarily as personal protective equipment; similar garments used primarily for display are spats. Originally, gaiters were made of leather. Today, gaiters for walking are commonly made of plasticized synthetic cloth such as polyester. Gaiters for use on horseback continue to be made of leather.

Now I understand that, but it seems that neck warmers, circular scarves, pieces that wrap the neck, cowls etc are also called gaiters. And they are not created with plasticized synthetic cloth – they are knitted or crocheted in delicious, warm, sumptuous, and colourful yarns.

When did that happen?

Where have I been!

I have been callng my cowls, my “not Isadora Duncan Scarves”, my neck and shoulder warmers, and other versions of fashionable scarves etc all of which are designed to wrap and keep the neck warm – I have been calling them anything and everything but gaiter.

Rib & Cable neck / shoulder warmer

How does a leg protector become a neck warmer?

Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus:
gait n Manner of walking

gaiters pl n cloth or leather coverings for the legs or ankles [French Guêtre]

I kept looking and there seems to be a trend towards the gaiter being a practical item of clothing for skiers and motorbike riders and there are no photographs of the delicious, fashionable, hand knit designer gaiters that started me looking on google images for Gaiter

So someone out there, decided that while a wrap for the neck is also a piece of protective clothing (hence, Gaiter), there is no reason at all why that protective clothing should not also be a fashionable piece.

Hence the hand knit designer gaiter.

Being a Wednesday, and a rest and recreation day for me – I thought I should look for a “W” project; little, sweet, easy, no brain required – and decided on a Wimple.

Wikipedia: The wimple is a garment of medieval Europe worn by women around the head.

It is a cloth which usually covers the head and is worn around the neck and chin. At many stages of medieval culture it was unseemly for a married woman to show her hair. A wimple might be elaborately starched, and creased and folded in prescribed ways, even supported on wire or wicker framing (cornette). Italian women abandoned their headcloths in the 15th century, or replaced them with transparent gauze, and showed their elaborate braids. Both elaborate laundry and elaborate braiding demonstrated status, in that such grooming was being performed by others.

So what can a wimple be on this wet, windy, wonderful & woolly Wednesday in Haarlem? A search on “Wimple knit” bought up quite a few hints, ideas, patterns and examples such as the following links.

Simple Wimple
Wrap turned Wimple
Gorgeous lace Wimple

AND then I remembered a “Wimple” or two that I had created back in early 2000s, not knowing at the time they were wimples. They were head and neck coverings, headgear I called them. There were a couple of others for which I do not have photos, so if you read this and you have one of my wimples – please send a photograph.

So today I am going to recreate my Wimple – I said simple, didn’t I – Mistake I think.

For those who do not know just what Twitter is.

Mainly from Wikipedia :

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service, owned and operated by Twitter Inc., that enables its users to send and read other user’s messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s page. Tweets are publicly visible by default.

From Moi:

I realised that my twitter when used around a specific project such as my “Lake Hawea Skirt / Outfit” actually makes its own story. And because I write my stories here on the website – I thought I could use my twitter for this one – and so I have.

Just in case you thought this – NO – Twitter does not pay me, I am not advertising twitter.

I am saving writing time by using my twitter this way for this project. I need to talk to and hear from people in support of my all round craziness and doubt around this project. Twitter is doing that for me because everyone in New Zealand is asleep when I am awake here in The Netherlands. I am just adding my thoughts as I would if there was someone here for me to talk to, but in 140 characters – and that is hard for me.

Maybe the world would be a better place if we could all restrict our sentences to a coherent (nearly) 140 characters, minus full stops and spaces if necessary.

Hear that all ye politicians and all ye all round nutters. See if you could do that – you might be real and honest. WOW