Monday, November 20, 2006

Quick Query...

Okay guys--in full bore editing mode...must ask...

"I sat in the kitchen and talked quietly and knit, rehashing the day's events."

Question: Is it 'knit' or 'knitted'? C'mon--I know I've got some English majors and a whole truckload of writers out there... give a sister some love and affectionately help her correct her grammar! Thanks a gazillion!

6 comments:

NeedleTart said...

I knit, I will knit I have knit. The only time I think I would use "knitted" is in describing a garment made with sticks and strings. Just my thoughts, The Husband says to change the sentence completely. "I was in the kitchen, knitting while I waited."

roxie said...

"I knit this sweater myself. It was knit of wool. I sat and knit and thought about the day." Hmmm, I think "knitted" is slipping out of usage, just as "pled" has disappeared. It sets my teeth on edge to hear that, "The defendent pleaded guilty," but every news medium uses it.

Anonymous said...

The other commenters are right. "Knitted" refers to something made through the process of knitting and "knit" can be the past tense of "to knit".

Anonymous said...

Right. Knitted is an adjective. Knit is the verb (in present and past tenses.)

jdknits said...

I'm from the UK and reading/hearing "knit" used instead of the past tense version ("Knitted") makes my inner pedant thrash around and gnash her teeth.

But I live in the US now and my inner pedant has had to learn to love the dank and padded cell I periodically lock her in, to avoid alienating my gracious hosts.

"Knitted" is falling out of use in the US (Roxie) but not at all in the UK, as far as I know.

(PS Been lurking for a while. Popping up on a grammar issue to say "hi, love the way with words.")

Susan said...

So there you have it. If you're writing British English, use "knitted." If you're writing bog-standard Amurrican English, use "knit" which, in the British English edition will be edited to "knitted" anyway.

I'll never forget reading Sinclair Lewis' "Main Street" years ago during my morning bus commute in London and encountering Carol Milford Kennicott serving a pudding after dinner.

"Pudding! I think not! Not a Minnesota girl!" I exclaimed, which actually came out of my mouth sounding something more like gee-ZUZ.