Thrum

to thrum

To play on any instrument stringed with wire.

A thrummer of wire ; a player on the spinet, harpsichord, or guitar.

The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

A thrum is an unspun or loosely spun tuft of wool that can be used to line slippers and mittens. In ye olden days, thrums were generally bits of fleece that were too rough or tangled to spin properly; they were used simply to add extra warmth to items made of better quality wool. Nowadays, however, when knitters want to work with thrums, they purchase unspun roving specifically for the purpose. (This is similar to the phenomenon in quilting where people buy gorgeous fabrics to quilt with; originally, the whole point of quilting was to find a use for small scraps of fabric left over from other projects.)

Traditionally thrums are knitted into caps and slippers, creating puffy bonus stitches on the outside of the fabric and lining the insides with soft fuzz. Thrums can also be needle felted to beautiful effect. Here is a site to show you how it's done.

Like so much knitting and weaving lingo, thrums have made it into folklore. Thrummy Cap is a Scottish faerie named (like certain others) for his headgear. A thrumpin was originally a kind of Celtic guardian spirit, but is now most famous as a character in a PlayStation game.

BrevityQuest07

Thrum (?), n. [OE. thrum, throm; akin to OD. drom, D. dreum, G. trumm, lump, end, fragment, OHG. drum end, Icel. romr edge, brim, and L. terminus a limit, term. Cf. Term.] [Written also thrumb.]

1.

One of the ends of weaver's threads; hence, any soft, short threads or tufts resembling these.

2.

Any coarse yarn; an unraveled strand of rope.

3. Bot.

A threadlike part of a flower; a stamen.

4. Mining

A shove out of place; a small displacement or fault along a seam.

5. Naut.

A mat made of canvas and tufts of yarn.

Thrum cap, a knitted cap. Halliwell. -- Thrum hat, a hat made of coarse woolen cloth. Minsheu.

© Webster 1913.