crewel

[prettygoodword]

Theme week: All At 6s, where every word is 6 letters long.


crewel (KROO-uhl) - n., loosely twisted worsted yarn used in embroidery; embroidery (esp. bordering) done with such yarn, crewelwork.


In this spelling, appears in the 1590s -- in the 15th century it was crule, of which the dictionaries say "origin unknown."

---L.

Comments

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Given that spelling and the time of first notice in print, I speculate there may be a relationship with Dutch crullen/krullen, which also gave us crullers. Crewel yarn is more open and noticeably twisted, slightly kinking, even, than knitting yarn.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Possibly.

---L.

[flwyd.livejournal.com]

I first encountered this in the punny Xanth novel Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

So did I. It was also the last Xanth novel I read, because I regretted the lost time so much.

---L.