“What’s a ‘knickerbocker’?” asked Charles. He was reading a book, in which a woman was described as having the ‘best knickerbocker lineage.’
“Eye-oh-no,” I said, because I was too busy crocheting to enunciate. Then I said the words dreaded by schoolchildren everywhere: “Why don’t you look it up?” Had I said this to 11-year-old Eva, she would have said, “Aw, Mo-om!”
Not being a schoolchild, but an intelligent and curious grown-up, Charles looked it up right away, with no whining. The lady in the book was descended from the Knickerbockers, a nickname for the original Dutch settlers in New Netherland, which was later split into New York and New Jersey (USA). There was actually a man surnamed Knickerbocker, who was one of those original settlers.
“Hey, here’s Knickerbocker yarn!” said Charles. He’s a good guy—always thinking of me. Knickerbocker yarn is flecked with different colors. A surprising (to me) number of web sites give information about this yarn, which is also called Knicker yarn or Nepp yarn. You card small balls of wool or silk noil into a longer fiber and then spin it all up together.
So I guess this pretty yarn, handspun by my friend Joan L., would be Knickerbocker yarn.