I decided to leave the shoulder and collar shaping on the back piece for later. I started to get curious about the ribbing around the collar and noticed the pattern refers to a page (Conseils) not included in the free version of the pattern. Similar instructions can be found on Phildar‘s website.

Instead of picking up stitches and working a collar, this pattern specifies knitting a separate band of K2P2 ribbing and then sewing it onto the sweater using backstitches. After working the band to the desired width, knit a couple of rows using a contrasting color. Position the band around the collar, placing more stitches on the front. When it comes time to sew the band to the sweater, unravel all but one row of the stitches in the contrasting color. Unravel each stitch of the last knit row while making a backstitch. More detailed instructions (in English) and pictures can be found in “Big Book of Knitting” by Katharina Buss.

I picked up “Knitting Languages” at my local yarn store last weekend. I noticed that there were two copies left and remembered reading on the publisher’s website that it is going out of print. This book lists knitting terms in Danish, French, German, British, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish. All are translated into American English.

I find it interesting that French has two words for stitch, “point” and “maille”. “Point” seems to be used for stitches that have already been worked and “maille” for stitches on a needle.