Day 14 and a Lot More (mostly Stream of Consciousness)

Today’s offering: a zipper pull or stitch marker

While in Innsbruck, we had some time to explore and shop on our own. On the main square where we were meeting up was a yarn and fabric shop, Kapferer. They had some lovely embroidered goods, fabrics, and upstairs sewing notions and yarn.

Their window display is what caught my eye.

What?? Yarn on the cozy chair?? I had to explore…

Early on our trip a fellow knitter asked me if I had knit my hat. She, too, was wearing a Musselburgh. Rebecca and I became instant knit buddies.

She also sported her striped, Where’s Waldo scarf and I wore my green Swallowail shawlette and Latvian mittens.

I knew I had to find her and tell her about the yarn shop. 

Once I found her, we went inside to explore. A couple of days earlier, one of the ladies selling her hand-knit items at a booth showed me the yarn she was using to knit a pair of socks. I certainly don’t need to add to my sock yarn stash but this yarn had yak content. You don’t see that every day. I was intrigued.

(Scroll down to red text to avoid knitting content)

I found it at Kapferer! Regia 4-ply Merino Yak Color - 58% merino wool, 28% nylon, 14% yak. 

And the label gives the name for wool in 24 languages, nylon in 18, and yak in 14!

I have never seen this yarn here in North America. Granted I haven’t really been doing any yarn shopping in the last 10 or 15 years except for particular projects.

With that amount of nylon content, the socks should be very durable. The yak and merino content will make them very cozy.

When I knit a heel flap/wedge heel, I usually do an eye of partridge (EOP) pattern - a staggered rib as follows;

Row 1:* sl1, K1. Repeat from * to the last stitch, K1.

Row 2: Sl1, Purl

Row 3: Sl1, *Sl1, K1. Repeat from * to the last stitch, K1.

Row 4: Sl1, Purl

Repeat these 4 rows until the heel flap is square.

After that, I knit to 1 stitch past the centre, K2tog, K1 and turn. 

Then I continue the EOP until I’ve decreased back down to the desired number of sts for the foot:

Purl row: Sl1 purl to end.

Row 1: *Sl1, K1. Repeat until 1 st before the gap, K2tog, K1

Row 2: Sl1, purl to end.

Row 3: Sl1, * Sl1, K1. Repeat from * to 1 st before the gap, k2tog, K1

Row 4: Sl1, Purl to end

This gives you a double thickness on the bottom of the heel (where I wear holes in mine).

If you also wear holes on the balls of your feet, you could do the EOP on the sole sts when you get to that part of the foot, maintaining the pattern for the top of the foot.

Wow! I sure digressed there. But I hope you got my drift.

Oh ya, the old town square where the yarn shop was is also where the building with the famed Golden Roof is located. Maximilian I had it built between 1497 and 1500.

There are 2,657 gilded copper shingles, and fresco and relief decorations. 

Even the sewer access covers depict the Golden Roof as well as the ski jump as Innsbruck hosted the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976.

Around the old town, children’s stories are depicted on buildings’ exteriors, for example, Rapunzel’s long braid:

and Pinocchio’s illuminated nose:

This whole building’s facade looked like an Advent calendar.

That night, after a delicious meal, we attended a Tyrolean show. There was lots of singing, yodeling, accordion and zither playing, and dancing. But the highlight for me was the alphorns.(tap the play button twice)

I was hoping they’d ask for a volunteer from the audience to play one. It would have been my opportunity to reprise my epic alphorn playing in 1981 on a boat cruise on Lake Lucern.

Sadly, they didn’t call me up.

Next stop, sunny Lindau, Germany. A delightful little island in Bodensee aka Lake Constance.

Last night was supposed to be a meteor shower. I went outside and in spite of the cloudless sky, full moon, and all the ambient light in my suburban locale, I actually saw one, the first thing I got out there.