Knyttynge

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The craft of making cloth by looping yarn together with needles ; the act of binding or joining separate parts into one
2. Forming fabric by interlocking loops of thread with needles ; the process of uniting or fastening separate pieces into a whole
3. Creating a textile from yarn looped with needles ; a fastening together of distinct parts so they grow or hold as one

Etymology: "Knyttynge" is the Middle English spelling of what became "knitting," and its roots run back to Old English "cnyttan," meaning to tie or fasten, from the noun "cnotta," a knot. The sense of making fabric by looping thread came later, as the word moved from tying things together to tying loops of yarn into cloth. Knitting by hand with needles was a craft in medieval Europe, and the verb gradually narrowed from general fastening to that specific handwork. The Middle English spelling with "y" and a double "t" reflects the period when English spelling was still unsettled, before printing and dictionaries fixed it. The same root gives us "knot" itself, so the craft is named for the action of making knots.