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American Sign Language: "knit" / "knitting"



The "right" sign for "knit" will depend on whom you ask.
So make sure you ask someone who knows eh?
 

I just got off the VP (video phone) with Karen Foust.  She is a friend of mine.  She is also a typical grandma type person and she is a knitter.  (And for the record she is a Deaf grandmother of Deaf grandchildren.)   She's been around "forever" and enjoys homemaking, crafts, and such.  I've never knitted in my life. She knits rather often. So I figure I'll show you what SHE uses and recommend you go with that.

 

KNIT:  (Karen's version)
She holds two index fingers one on top of the other and slides them them closer together and back out and in again.

 



Also see:  CROCHET


Notes:

In a message dated 2/26/2012 2:51:38 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, Gabriel Kelly writes:
...I've been interested in sign language since about 8th grade (I'm a sophomore in college, so seven years now) and on a whim about two months ago I looked up on Google good resources to begin teaching yourself ASL. Your website put such a fire in my belly I just had to delve deeper in to the signing world! I learned that the campus for the Georgia School for the Deaf was only half an hour from where I attend college, and I am now enrolled in beginners sign language classes being taught by Dean Evans, the school's interpreter. With the help of Dean and your website I now have the confidence (and the growing skills) to go in to the community and start communicating. I go weekly to a Deaf knitting group just ten minutes from campus that is the highlight of my week. It's one thing to sign with other people learning sign in a classroom, but it's a whole other thing to have to sign -- and I love it. In fact, I am honestly considering interpreting as a career choice. I have never enjoyed studying so much in my life.
All the best,
- Gabriel Kelly
 



Gabriel,
Hello :)
Thank you for the nice feedback. I appreciate it. A Deaf knitting group? Now THAT is a specialized group eh? One of these days I'd love to see what y'all are using as the sign for "knit." (vs. crochet).
Have a nice day and best wishes to you in all you do.
Cordially,
- Dr. Bill
 



Dr. Bill,
Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you. I wanted to wait until I could ask the women in the knitting group what their sign was. They take their index fingers in an X (not the handshape, but the [English] letter. Sort of like the sign for name, but with just the first finger) then they sort of rock them back and forth on top of the other finger. For crochet they do the same thing, but with one of their fingers actually with the ASL handshape for x (like a hooked needle they told me).
-- Gabriel

 




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