My sock mojo is back! I'm so pleased. I missed it. (This may have something to do with my profound jealousy of all the lucky knitters at the Sock Summit.) I'm nearly done with my first Yarnissima Firestarter. How have I not noticed her patterns before? They're amazing.
These are knit from the toe up. I used Judy's Magic Cast On which is great. With the Figure 8 cast on I always had to go back and tighten it up and it usually ended up being uneven. The magic cast on is tight and tidy.
Joan Schrouder (Rav link) taught at my local knitting retreat a couple of years ago. (They don't call her St. Joan for nuthin'.) She showed us a wonderful vest made up of traveling stitches from Maria Erlbacher's Uberlieferte Strickmuster (Typepad evidently doesn't like umlauts), a set of 3 books on Bavarian twisted stitches written in German. Sadly my experience with German begins and ends with learning Silent Night in German 30 years ago. That did not stop me from tracking the 3 books down on the German ebay. "It's charts! It doesn't matter if I don't read German." Ha. The charts were like none I had ever seen so I really wasn't able to figure them out.
Luckily, in addition to all EZ gave us, she also gave us Meg Swansen. She had the books translated and republished them in one volume. More info about how that came about here. (Rav link) I just about passed out with joy when I read that. I nearly passed out again when the book arrived long before I was really expecting it. (Notice yellow table is now purple. As are several other pieces of yard furniture.)
The explanation of the charts is excellent and includes a few examples. I totally get them now! I have some Zenith Di-Ve in stash for a vest similar to Joan's. I might do some more traveling stitch socks to perfect my technique before I tackle the vest. Not to mention I have 2 color work KALs this winter which I'm really looking forward to. It's been hot here for a grand total of about a week and I'm completely ready for fall.
I'll leave you with a picture of inter-species harmony.
