I have 2 of Ulrike's books and have never once read any of the text. They are both in German and I find the working diagrams excellent. They are both books on quite complex Chantilly and I'd recommend them highly regardless of your first language.
And, Robin Panza wrote:
I agree with David. I have "Maikafer", "Shmetterlinge", "Schwartzarbeit",
the snowflake book, and a couple of others, and have only used the diagrams.
They are excellent--both detailed and clear. I've never had any concern
about the text.
I do not have either "Maikafer, flieg" or "Schmetterlinge" and I don't know what the second book on Chantilly (mentioned in David's message) might be. But I do have the "Schwartzarbeit" (blackwork) as well as several other of Loehr's books. Unlike the "Rundherum", they all *do* have English -- where it counts, in the introductory explanations.
Although I've never made a single pattern from the Chantilly book (Schwarzarbeit), I did learn how to handle "loop de loop" gimp from it. And yes, I used mostly the diagrams (the English is, at best, "so-so" for clarity) but I'm not sure I'd have been able to *identify* the technique without the English. I'd never before seen it diagrammed, so didn't recognise it by just looking at it. And the title of that section (Durchstecken; translated in the book as: the passing through) was meaningless to me and not to be found in my little dictionary. It was reading the description of what the process achieved that clued me in. I read it in English -- my German wouldn't have stretched to it.
That whole section (first 16 pages) is a gold mine of tips and suggestions on how to get the best results. Sure, the pattern diagrams are superb and the info next to each pricking is negligible and can easily be discounted (ca 160 Paar; not for me, thank you <g>) but the info on the threads used -- and how they differ in the final effect -- is invaluable. And, thankfully, available in English.
In Schneeverweht (Snowdrifts; on Binche) the English is even more important. Not only is the lace technique itself more complex, but she uses some symbols which are uniquely her own. All of that is explained, with big diagrams, in the preliminary section of the book -- in both German and English. And each of the patterns has a few words -- again both in German and English -- about its origin and particular "points of interest"; I find those fascinating.
I expect, if one already had plenty of experience in a given technique, one could reproduce the patterns strictly on the basis of the diagrams and a mix of experience and ingenuity. More or less accurately (and, if it's "less", don't look to Loehr for praise; if it's not plu-perfect, she has little time for it. "It will do" gets a very cold "if it makes you happy" in response <g>). So, to that extent, those books are *useful*, no matter the language.
But, if there had not been the English, side by side with the German, it would have been a "pebble in my shoe" forever; I'd never stop wondering just what I might be missing. Just as I do with the 400 Tricks; I can interpret the diagrams well enough to follow them. But I *really* want to know how she's worded her verbal explanations; she has an uncanny knack of packing a lot of info into a very few words
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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