This is a wonderful book, full of intricate, complex, twisted-stitch charts. The instructions are clear, very descriptive, and well-written. This is not a book for the novice knitter: it won't teach you how to knit, but if you know how to knit, with some patience you should be able to produce these beautiful designs. Note that this book is black-and-white, no color images.

The book has charts for 179 twisted-stitch patterns, with pictures of the swatches, and charts for the stitch patterns (no written instructions). But with an excellent section on how to read the charts, I found them easy to follow (side note: I like the fact that they use an 8 as the image for a twisted stitch, which for some reason is easier to look at than the loopy thing most charts show for twisted stitches).

It has patterns for stockings (i.e., knee-high socks) with a calf gusset, and several different charts from which you can choose your favorite calf gusset pattern and stitches pattern for the rest of the sock. Only male stockings have the calf gusset; women's stockings have increases for the calf instead. These are top-down socks, with a picot hem/casing at the top that expects elastic. The patterns for men's, boys' and women's stockings give you the materials, needle size ("depending on your gauge") and number of cast-on stitches, but not gauge that I could find. After that, you're on your own with choosing what stitch pattern to use for the calf, calf gusset, heel and foot. It has many suggested stitch patterns for the stockings and calf gussets. It does provide instructions for how to knit the parts of the stocking, including turning the heel, it's just not your typical row-by-row knitting pattern.

It has patterns for:

Lady's Cardigan and Women's Cardigan (37"-38")
Men's Cardigan (46.5"-48")
Two Child's Cardigans (3-4 years)
Little Boy's Styrian Sweater (cardigan, 4-5 years)
Alpine Cardigan (44"-48")
Sleeveless Vest (37"-38")
Ennstal Jacket (44.5"-48")

The sweater patterns (all cardigans) and vest pattern all have--for the back, left front and right front--"Cast on X sts...," instructions for the "ribbing" (some have garter stitch edging), "Follow the charts...," Armhole, ,Neck Opening, Sleeves and Button Band. Some sleeves are knitted flat, others in the round. All sweaters are knitted flat, none in the round, and all the patterns have pictures and measurement diagrams of each piece of the sweater. The first sweater has a "Gauge Swatch" section--and the other patterns refer readers to it--that describes how to make a gauge swatch and determine how many stitches you need for the size you're making.

All the patterns have lovely traveling stitches, some more beautiful and complex than others, and the many stitch patterns give the knitter a wealth of ideas for incorporating her own ideas into the patterns. With the wealth of instructions provided in the book, I think knitters should have no problem creating their own gorgeous designs from this book, even without row-by-row sl1, p1, twL, twR, p1, k1 instructions.

In today's mail was a lovely surprise! My copy of Twisted-Stitch Knitting, by Maria Erlbacher, had finally arrived.

This was previously published in three small volumes as Uberlieferte Strickmuster. Now published in English, what a treasure trove this is, with 174 traditional sitch patterns, several pages devoted to explanation of techniques, plus patterns for men's and women's vests, sweaters and stockings. While there are no glossy colour photos, each pattern is accompanied by a black-and-white closeup photo of the pattern and/or garment, and a chart. There are no written out instructions, and although no line numbers are provided, the charts are easy enough to understand. In short, this is a no-nonsense book of twisted stitch patterns.

I am so glad that I got it, as it will be wonderfully handy when I get the courage to design my own stockings, or something else equally gorgeous and elegant!

Normally, I'm happy to share my knitting books. I pass them around, I let people look through them for inspiration (although, of course, I never copy patterns, but instead encourage them to support the author and buy their own copy.)

This one is carefully hidden away in one of my knitting bags. I don't even want anyone else to touch it. The cables are amazing, and I've finally found a way to add texture to my knitting that doesn't add the bulk of more traditional cables.

I will say that the charts are hard to get used to - they give instructions a row beneath the row you are supposed to make the change on, so I keep getting mixed up. I finally ended up grabbing a knitting font, and retyping the patterns I am using in a more traditional chart format - now I'm able to cruise right along.

I will say, though, that these cables make "just one more row!" an even more likely phrase for my family to hear, because it's so fun to see what happens next!

This is a very worthwhile book on twisted stitch patterns used in traditional Austrian sweaters. The sweaters are made of solid-colored wool and look kind of like Aran sweaters, only the cables are smaller and finer, and there is a lot of emphasis on twisted stitches. The sweaters are handsome. The information is presented in a very clear and complete way. Charts and photos of the stitch patterns are given. There are photos of completed sweaters, so you can see how the stitch patterns fit into the garment design. A reasonably experienced knitter who likes to pore over charts and knitting information will not have trouble making satisfying versions of these sweaters and stockings. All in all, the book is a labor of love. This isn't a book for knitters who would like to be told how to handle every stitch in their size of a specific sweater design.