From Bavaria's pre-eminant publisher of handcraft books (Rosenheim) comes this exceptional treasury of traditional knitting patterns from the Alpine regions of Germany and Austria. You will find an amazing variety of lace and twisted stitch patterns, complete with very handy unbound pattern-chart cards so you can knit without having to try to hold the book open at the same time. A translation sheet for the symbols is included, of course.

As wonderful as all that is, better still (in my opinion) is the tour through the culture and history of the farming regions of German and Austria that the patterns offer. Sit back and slowly page through these three books -- you'll discover that the stitch patterns practically speak to you about the people who made them and the lives they led. Even if your German is limited to what you can glean from a German/English dictionary, the names of the patterns will take you into the woods, along creek beds, through the herb-studded alpine meadows, into the flower gardens and out in the farmers' fields.

If you know enough German to read the text, you'll find stories and histories of the people and places and patterns -- enough to delight any knitter and keep you coming back for more. Fanderl's work is as warming to the heart as it is invigorating to the knitting hands.