Sprecken sie socken?

I do enjoy a good knitting challenge. But I may be pushing myself to the limit this time! Bewitched by the project gallery on Ravelry, I tracked down a copy of Stephanie Van Linden’s “Socken Aus Aller Welt”. I have to tell you that these socks are staggeringly beautiful! And that the book is written in German.

No, before you ask, I don’t understand a word of it… yet! And further evidence of my jeopardy is that I didn’t even realise the charts were contained in a separate booklet attached to the inside back cover. I thought I was going to have to use the photos to work out the stranded designs! It was only when I noticed the repeated mention of a “strickenjournal” and the word “seite” (which my daughter told me means “page”!) followed by a number that I tracked it down and realised the task ahead had just become more achievable!

Thank heavens for Ravelry! There is a support group for knitters of Stephanie’s patterns and links to linguistic back-up resources and tips. I totally immersed myself in the book over the weekend and now recognise at a glance the words for “circular needles” and “stitchmarkers”. I can even just about tell which socks are knitted toe-up!

But I am under no illusions: this is not going to be easy! It doesn’t help that my magpie-eye is drawn to the most complicated designs with diagonal shapings and unusual heel construction! Ironically, the easiest patterns for a non-German-speaker are probably the multi-coloured ones!

I would be very surprised if this book is not translated into English very soon, because it is an absolute stunner. But if you can’t wait… you can buy a copy very reasonably from the Book Depository via Amazon Marketplace – the listing says “Used like New” but my copy looks box-fresh.