If knitting were more like medicine (veterinary or human), that is what we would be asking each other, instead of "Mattress stitch or backstitch?" Isn't it nice that this is another way in which knitting is different from vetting?! Can you tell that I've finally figured out how to insert links into my posts?
Anyway, I don't know if it's egos or tradition or what, but it seems like every disease, medical or surgical procedure, syndrome, and physical anomaly is named after someone. Barth's, Beclard's, Cloquet's, Hesselbach's, Holthouse's, Malgaigne's, Petit's, Richter's, Trietz', Velpeau's--all different types of hernias! (No photos, sorry.) Not that I have anything against doctors; three of the five people in this photo are doctors...okay, one of them is a PhD, but they're nearly as bad with the naming everything after somebody Juneau-Velasquez* syndrome.
But just imagine what knitting would be like: there would be things like the Zimmermann cast-on, the Stoller steam block, the Lavold cable, the Modesitt method, the She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named school (not to be confused with the Fassett school), the Bliss style, the Walker stitch, the Walker II stitch, the Walker III stitch, the Walker-O'Keeffe stitch....
OK, I'll stop. And I'll put some photos (but not of hernias) in my next post, I promise.
*Actually, I made that up; as far as I know, that particular syndrome is not named after anyone. Ironic, isn't it?
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