Rowan Alpine Big Wool Shrug

The new Rowan fall knitting magazine "Rowan Knitting & Crochet Magazine No 42" is so yummy that I have abandoned my needles for days just to salivate all over it, lest I should felt all my hard work!

I fell in love with the Alpine Shrug, probably because of the design on the back, which reminds me of the very best time I ever had with my mother visiting the Zugspitze in Germany, one of the loveliest mountains on earth. My mother died a few months ago. As she lay dying we reminisced about that wonderful trip, recollecting how we sat at the base of the mountain and ate freshly caught trout, and drank dark German beer; how we went up the mountain on a "sailbahn" right before the first snow of autumn; how we stood atop the mountain glacier, marveling at the gray clouds rolling in under the cobalt sky; how we barely made it down the mountain before the snow blanket fell heavily atop and all around; how we bundled up in our new Loden coats in the crisp following morning. It was this very time, in October, in Southern Germany. For many years after that trip, I have awakened at night awash with a cool, refreshing dream of that mountain, my best dream ever!

View from the Zugspitze looking north toward Germany. Notice Eibsee in the middle and the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen to the right
Picture: John C. Watkins V

View from the Zugspitze looking south toward Austria. Notice the gold cross in the left foreground marking the highest point in Germany.
Picture: John C. Watkins V

And so, I shall knit the Alpine Big Wool Shrug in Rowan's new color for Fall, "White Hot," for it reminds me of that first Autumn snow on the Zugspitze.