An unusual collection of stitches
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 11:22AM 
Babelfish translates the title literally to 'The Great Review of the Points', but then we all know Babelfish talks nonsense. 'Points' is the Italian word for stitches, so the title reads more like 'The Great Stitch Review' or similar.
ETA: Teacosy has told me that 'rivista' means magazine, which makes sense! Thanks Teacosy!
This was found in the local supermarket, of all places! Every Italian stitch dictionary or how-to book that I've bought has come from the magazine shelves. Infact all of them except one are more magazines than books - they may be one-off publications, but they have the look and feel of magazines; the flimsy paper, lack of reinforced cover etc etc. This seems to be quite common in Europe - my copy of Mon Tricot has the same feel about it. Even the one Italian book of knit stitches that I do have sat alongside the magazines in the shop. The downside is is that they need protecting to survive any amount of use, and the plus side is that they are far more accessible and loads cheaper.
Unusually, this isn't a Mani di Fata publication; it is infact a German publication, produced by OZ Verlag, and this collection of 130 stitches is translated and distributed across Italy and Switzerland as well as it's native Germany.
The stitch patterns contained inside are interesting - they aren't the usual collection of standard patterns that we're so used to seeing repeated from collection to collection. Very few basic stitches can be found, and infact, most are complex repeats of some 30 rows or more - the samples are definitely knit on fine gauge yarn. There are intriguing combinations of cables and lace, or overall shawl patterns with a variety of lace stitches already combined and mapped out. I'm more used to seeing these unusual sorts of stitches in my Japanese stitch dictionaries, so I'm really pleased to see a European publication like this, even if it feels like it won't last a full swatching session.
Each stitch pattern is charted, and the key is in Italian. Now, there's no one universal symbol for a yarnover used, which threw me to start with. But then I remembered where I am and who published it, and realised the symbols represent yf, yb, etc, i.e the different ways of creating a yarnover. I'll get Tom to translate the key for me to be sure, but I reckon that's what they mean. The increase and decrease symbols are also more specific than you generally see. Reassuringly, they use the same symbols for cables that I prefer to use, helping it seem less alien ;)
All in all, this was a really good find and a good addition to my collection; a total bargain at €3.90. I'm going to look out for more of these, as I think they'd make great little gifts or giveaways. There were more in the shop where I bought this one but they'd already been damaged - such is the life of a magazine.
Reader Comments (6)
Can you imagine finding such treasure at Tesco? This looks fab. Want!
Lucky find, I love stitch dictionaries and in the supermarket no less!
Oh! There's drool pooling on my keyboard over this one. I may have to track down a copy and put that college Italian class to good use.
Noooooo. I hate you!!!All stitch dictionaries are mine, mine mine....!!
Joking......I would kill to get my hands on a gem like that, having soaked up as many old French dictionaries as I could.
I bet you cannot resist but try one of them out this weekend eh?
Great find. Maybe it's the fact that the stitches are being described as "130 contemporary and fashion stitches", so it's not meant to last too long? I had a similar one I bought in Florence in... oh dear god... 1985... which had almost completely disintegrated a couple of years ago. I scanned some pages with patterns I didn't have anywhere else before it all fell apart...
Offering myself as an alternative Italian translator but it seems you have enough already!
Oh, and is that photographed on a cattle grid? Enquiring minds, etc...