Needlework activist Antone Gerber works to protect the rights of crocheters everywhere.

Of course, using "knitting" and "crochet" interchangeably is one of those things that sends crocheters round the bend. They're right, to a degree. It isn't precise to label the above crocheted edge as knitting; it is in fact donut fringe from Nicky Epstein's Crocheting on the Edge, an amazing compendium of frilly codas for crocheted garments. (That woman's a genius, I swear.) It is simply wrong to call it "knitting."

But as a writer who occasionally writes about needlecrafts, I find myself stuck between what is politically correct and editorially expedient. The early days of the PC movement on college campuses felt much the same way. As academic communicators we were enjoined by faculty to use terms like "humankind" in lieu of "mankind"--a word I still find cumbersome--and African American instead of Black. Fine, race and gender are big deals.

But what term do we use to encompass yarn stuff? We're not only knitters and crocheters, we're spinners, dyers, weavers, felters, needlepointers, needlefelters, etc. Fiber artist is too broad, encompassing papermaking and other non-yarn-related textiles. Knitter is too narrow. Needlecrafts kind of says it, but do we include embroiderers and quilters among our ilk? Yarn workers? Yarn heads? Yarnies? Yarn artist?

What word do you use to describe the stuff we do?

You can't crochet just one donut.