Tuesday 21 August 2007

I Can't Read German

When my copy of the Burda magazine with the Lyra pattern arrived yesterday I was reminded of a conversation with my goddaughter when she was about 2 1/2 years old. I'd arrived at the house and we were chatting and I asked her if she wanted me to read her a book. She took the book from the shelf and firmly proclaimed "I'll read it. I'll read it." I shrugged and settled in beside her. She opened the book to the first page, furrowed her little brow, looked at me and announced with a bit of surprise "I can't read."

My German magazines have arrived and "I can't read German." I am taking comfort from the very clear charts and the kind offers from owners of the English magazines for assistance.

I've decided to make the tablecloth in a wool/silk laceweight (cream) on 2.75mm needles. Why? Because I really liked working with the Zephry on the last 3 projects, and that size needles feels comfortable for that yarn weight. Yarn is on order but may take a couple of weeks. Sigh. In the meantime I've bought a couple of sets of 2.75mm dpns which I'll need to use in the early stages. I have an order for 2.75mm circular needles in with GetKnitted (I've opted for KnitPicks because I heard good things about them and you can't get Addi's in 2.75mm.)

When I bought the magazine also bought a magazine with a Herbert Niebling lace curtain pattern which I want to adapt to a scarf. I'm planning to make a scarf with a single repeat of the flower on each end. I think it will be quite fetching.






In the Meantime.....

While I wait for the Big Knitting Challenge (BKC) to start I'm enjoying knitting up socks. The Lana Grossa's are complete, and I'm on the second sock for M. It's Duet Sock Yarn from A Swell Yarn Shop in a simple cable twist pattern. Duet sock yarn comes with a skein of contrasting yarn for the heel and toe which liven up a simple pattern.



Socks to Protect Your Breasts (Really)
And today I made a donation to breast cancer research and received a gorgeous sock pattern in return! Wahey! MezzoDiva the Operatic Knitaholic has designed the socks as part of her fundraising efforts for cancer research. She's also running a knitalong for the pattern. As if that isn't enough she is taking part in a 60km walk in September. The socks are gorgeous, and I'm off to find some lovely pink yarn so I can knit up a few pairs as presents for Christmas.

Thanks for the Swan Lake Love
Finally, thank you so much for all of the lovely comments on the Swan Lake/Mystery stoles. I've tried to reply to as many of you as possible on your blogs, but unfortunately blogger doesn't let me email and so I couldn't reply to those of you without blogs, or who have private blogger id's.
For those who asked if they could link to the blog, please do.

10 comments:

Ingalill said...

I can´t read German but I should love to have that magazine too!

But how to order it? Please can you tell?

ingalill @ ridemark dot se

Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Oooh nice! I have loads of Anna magazines at home (in English!) and forgot they have knitting patterns.

Oh, and I can read German if you need any help ;-)

LittleBerry said...

love the socks soo.... and I look forward to when you start your BKC... I have an Anna magazine with a window decoration in it and that's in German to so between my schoolgirl german and Babel I'm going to have a go....

I think you're right about the scarf with the flower I think it will look stunning in the right yarn...

Fiona said...

Ooh Lyra..... that is such a beautiful pattern. And what a wonderful idea for a scarf, it will look stunning. You'll like the Knitpicks circs, btw. Nice and pointy!

Emily said...

Did you fine the secret of chrysopolis? I gather there's another kalled knitting-delight on yahoo (mystery stole this autumn, that is).

Catknit said...

I know how you feel on the German bit, I bought some Anna mags and a fantastic Burda knitting book on ebay a while ago and keep looking at the pictures....I did find a list of German to English knitting abbreviations on the web somewhere and managed to figure out a few bits from that, if I come across it again, I'll let you know

Dana said...

I meant to comment on the stoles--they are just amazingly lovely and I am awed and impressed as to your knitting speed. Gives me a goal and a hope that lace will get quicker for me as I become more experienced. My semi-Odile (Charcoal Zephyr) is in time-out for a nasty dropped YO but I am regaining my resolve to finish.

Lisa said...

I love that lace curtain pattern!

Lacefreak said...

Dear Soo,

It really is the chart that matters as long you have the KEY in English. If you do not have the key in English, I would be happy to send you a copy of the one printed by the magazine for the English market. In the article that is linked with the pattern, there is only a small amount of information that would be helpful to know.

The size they show is 125 x 125 cm or 49.25 x 49.25 inches using chart "A"
They used 450 g of lightweight cotton crepe yarn ANCHOR "Sonja"
1 set EACH 2.5 mm double pointed needles (US 1 or UK 13-12) 20 cm/8" and 30 cm/12" in length.
You will also need 1 circular needle 2.5 mm (US 1 or UK 13-12) long.

The Original Design was actually worked with ANCHOR-Coats Mercer Crochet Cotton
No. 100 with 1.5 mm needles (size 60 x 60 cm or 23.5 x 23.5 inches)

If you knit it using ANCHOR-Coats Mercer Crochet Cotton inl No 30 using 2 mm needles ( US 0 or UK 14) it ends up 100 x 100 cm or 39.5 x 39.5 "

In the construction notes you are told to Cast on 8 stitches , divide onto 4 needles , join to knit in the round and then start knitting from the chart. There are 8 pattern repeats and you may want to use markers (I sure do) between the pattern repeats.

The chart only show every other row starting with row one.
The intermediate rows are knit plain.
If you have two adjacent yarn-overs (a double yarn over) then you are to purl one and then knit one into them.

As the work gets larger, you switch to the longer length circular needles.

This pattern can be knit either as the square doily you see in the picture or as a round doily.


Square

From 113th rnd. work only 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th pattern repeat foll. knitting chart. You(remember, there are 8 pattern repeats in this doily)

In the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th pattern repeat you work the stitches between the bold lines twice for the corners (ie- on 113th round. 2 yo instead of 1 yo. On 115th round 1 yo, k1, 1 yo alt twice) working the stitches before and after once.

Circular

If you want the table cover to be circular, omit the rep. from 113th round However they want you to then use a 3mm needle starting from that round.

After 180th round you are instructed to crochet the stitches off the needle taking together with 1 dc as many stitches as is indicated by the figure above the knitting chart. You are making 13 ch. stitches in between. This makes the nice little loops you will be using to pin out the work.

There now. That is all the instructions in this English version so now you need have no fears as I think your chart looks exactly like mine dones.

I copied my chart and then put laminating plastic sheets on it so that I can use highlight tape or post it notes under each row without the print coming off. Highlight tape is better because then you can see the previous row through the tape to see if there is a mistake.

Hope this helps you out. We can discover how to knit this sucker together. I look forward to seeing how yours comes out. Fleegle is doing hers in Zephyr and the woman I out-bid for my pattern on e-Bay (she got one afterwards too) may also be using Zephr (she has yet to decide).

Sincerely,

Jane

Lacefreak said...

Opps! Just got back from vacation to find fleegle changed her yarn selection. Looks really nice! Can't wait to see what you decide to use!