Swag, Shwag, and Spiff

I love words. I especially love discovering words that are new to me. So this Saturday after I was at an Adoption Day with Blue Dog Rescue the group I volunteer with, and I was given a tee-shirt left over from their Run for the Rovers 5k Race. When I got home The Boyfriend says, "...you get a lot of "spiff' on this gig". New word! I say "spiff, what's spiff?". He says "you know, giveaways, promo items, ..." or something to that general effect, and I say "...you mean swag." The Boyfriend had not heard the word "swag" used like this before.

So later that same evening The Boyfriend and I are having diner at the Brazilian restaurant with a friend, a smart, fashionista with a blog. So I ask said friend, "what do you know about spiff and swag?". Her answer was something along the lines of "...never heard of spiff, swag is the thing you drape over your curtains, I think you mean shwag."

Not being one to leave this kind of thing alone, I got on dictionary dot com and here's what I found: No such word as "Shwag" or "Schwag". "Swag" refers to booty, loot, prizes, giveaways, and promotional items. "Spiff" is very specific slang referring to promotional items given to sales persons by manufacturers in exchange for selling their goods.

Turns out I got swag.

On the knitty front ... I've been playing with the idea of I-cords. I've been making lariats, necklets, and necklaces. (yup, more words). They're fun, they're fast, and easy to wear. They all start as I-cords, and then I go from there. Some have areas of flat knit, which adds a pretty subtle but lovely detail. Some I throw in some decreases and increase to the flat knit. This can be stuffed with wool roving and sewn shut making nifty beads, others are left open resembling a piece of shell pasta. I've been adding fringe, and buttons, and I'm not done yet.