Klaus Stortebeker: The Legendary Pirate of the Middle Ages and His Impact on German Folklore and Knitting Patterns

Stortebeker

Klaus Stortebeker has been known as Robin Hood of the Seas. During late middle ages he and his men captured the richly laden ships of the Hanse towns and shared the booties with the German Frisian folks, who celebrated him as German hero pirate. He was finally captured on 22. April 1401 near Helgoland and was beheaded soon afterwards in Hamburg's harbour area, together with 30 comrades... The heads of them have been nailed on top of the poles standing at the seaways entrance to the Hamburg harbour, to frighten off others to become pirates.

(photo www.Hamburgmuseum.de) Gauge:

Yarn used:

Needles used:

Helpful gadgets:

1 cable needle 2 markers Size: Adult medium female (size 38-39 EU / 8US) Notes: Stranded knitwear is less stretchy than other techniques, and there are some things to consider with it. You might find following tutorial usefull: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQlc4UQWuzc Two-color knitting with carrying yarn and color dominance... is not a topic with this yarn in my opinion. In any case it is a good idea to decide, which color yarn you want to carry above the other and stick to this. There are a lot of variations how to do it, I have found, the best way for me is to lead both yarns over one hand with the blue one in the back and the white one in front:

Abbreviations and Chart Key

CO: Cast on DC/LC: Dark color / Light color PM: Place marker k/p: knit / purl st/sts: stitch / stitches sl: slip ssk: slip, slip, knit p2tog: purl 2 sts together RS: right side WS: wrong side Knit DC (dark color) Knit LC (light color) Slip 2 sts onto cable needle and hold to front, k1 LC, put 1 st back to left needle and knit DC, knit last st LC (You have cabled the 2 LC stitches, while the DC stitch remains in the middle) Cuff: using the twisted German cast-on, CO 72 sts with DC and distribute evenly onto needles (= 36 sts / needle when magic looping). Join to begin working in the round, careful not to twist. Work knit 2 st, purl 2 st ribbing for 19 rounds. 20"h round increase last st of needle (=37 sts / needle, 74 sts total) Leg: work leg chart, done once on each needle. With the last round shift each 2 sts from beginning and end to needle 2 needle 1 (heel working needle) = 33 sts needle 2 (foot working needle) = 41 sts Heel: heel flap is worked back and forth with both colors, sorry about this: as per heel chart (= 31 rows) you have to start the LC yarn ball new for the heel and the gusset, you might want to switch to a smaller needle, which adds 3 additional ends to I haven't done that. be woven at the end heel turn is worked back and forth with DC only, starting on the wrong side: row 1 (WS): sll, k18, ssk, k1, turn row 2 (RS): sll, p6, p2tog, pl, turn row 3 (WS): sl1, k7, ssk, k1, turn row 4 (RS): sll, p8, p2tog, pl, turn continue the established pattern to the last 2 rows, where you only SSK / p2tog at the end without k1 / p1, so that you end up with 19 sts.

PM between st 1 and 2 and between st 18 and 19 for the decreases.

Gusset:

sl1 (will be knit LC with next row), slip marker, k17 alternating both colors (starting/ending with DC), slip marker, k1 LC. Pick up and knit 16 sts along the left edge, (alternating colors starting with LC) ending with DC. Now is the time to take back the swapped 2 sts from needle 2, put it back to needle 1. The foot is continued in the pattern of the foot chart. Put back the last 2 sts to needle 1 here. Important is the alternating color at Pick up and knit 16 sts along the left edge, the ankle side to get back alternating colors starting with DC, ending with LC. to the rope pattern! (needle 1 with heel = 55 sts, needle 2 = 37 sts)

You should now have 2 LC color stitches next to each marker, which is the start of the decreases, right? To make things easier to explain, let's just knit the rest of needle 1 and complete needle 2 as given in round 1 to have a good start

Decrease:

round one:

k 5 sts in rope pattern k12 alternating colors to last 2 sts before marker, knit together 2 sts in LC slip marker, k17 in alternating colors as in round 1, slip marker, SSK 2 sts in LC, k12 in alternating colors to the last 5 sts, knit rope pattern (=53 sts) needle 2: Continue foot pattern on needle 2 round two: knit needle 1 as shown, needle 2 in foot pattern

round three:

k 5 sts in rope pattern k11 alternating colors to last 2 sts before marker, knit together 2 sts in LC slip marker, k17 in alternating colors as in round 1, slip marker, SSK 2 sts in LC, k11 in alternating colors to the last 5 sts, knit rope pattern (=51 sts) needle 2: Continue foot pattern on needle 2 round four: knit needle 1 as shown, needle 2 in foot pattern Total of 9 decreases (18 rounds) until both needles are back to 37 sts

Foot:

work total of 62 rounds to the end of the foot pattern, sole with alternating sts

Toe: round 1:

start the decreases on needle 1 knit 4 sts of rope pattern, SSK, continue pattern without anchors up to last 6 sts knit 2 together (last stitch before rope pattern and first stitch of rope pattern), k4 continue decrease on needle 2

round 2:

knit 4 sts of rope pattern, SSK, continue alternating pattern up to last 6 sts knit 2 together (last stitch before rope pattern and first stitch of rope pattern), k4 knit repeat round 1 + 2 six times (total decrease of 14 sts/needle = 23 sts/needle) repeat round 1 six times (total decrease to 11 sts/needle)

last round: needle 1:

needle 2: k4 of rope pattern, slip next 2 stitches together as if to k2tog, k1, pass 2 slipped stitches over (centred 2 stitch decreased), k4 of rope pattern k4 of rope pattern, slip next 2 stitches together as if to k2tog, k1, pass 2 slipped stitches over (centred 2 stitch decreased), do not finish!

Your socks will end up having the rope pattern around the toe. The decent way to finish these socks off would be a kitchener stitch closing the seam in a horizontal line (that's why needle 2 is not knit to the end), please do so, if you want to. I have wrapped the sock to the wrong side, have pulled the needles through the small hole and have cast off purling the last 18 sts together (9 sts /needle). Leg chart

Heel chart

Foot chart

Rope chart