Japanning Around

Posted on May 22nd, 2007 by Deb

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I really need to work on my foreign language skills.

Because I just got this lovely delivery of Japanese knitting books.

A book of 300 knitting stitches.

A book of autumn/winter patterns.

A lovely book of lace patterns, because I saw it on Fleegle’s blog, when she compared it to Lace Style.

And, an extra bonus, a very helpful guide on reading the patterns.

Now, Fleegle has a “how-to read Japanese patterns” also, which is really helpful. More than one, in fact. Not to mention this post with links to other sources–including that guide book you see above.

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Here are a couple more for you, too.

The lace book has some really lovely patterns in it. Not least of which is this simply gorgeous shawl. Gorgeous. Beyond gorgeous.

I’m telling you, one of these days, I really need to buckle down and decipher this stuff . . . I can’t say that I love every Japanese pattern I’ve seen, but some, like this shawl? Wow.

Just, wow.

Tags: knitting book review, Knitting/Spinning // 18 Comments »

18 Responses to “Japanning Around”

  1. jess // May 22, 2007 at 10:17 pm

    I love so many of the Japanese patterns! I find the charted directions fairly reasonable to decipher, but some of the more detailed text… not so much! gorgeous books, no matter what! :) they’re worth it for the inspiration.

  2. Chris // May 22, 2007 at 10:20 pm

    Good luck!! :)

  3. Ina // May 22, 2007 at 11:15 pm

    Lovely! If you get stuck, Paige at Modern Yarn is fluent in Japanese.

  4. Gracie // May 23, 2007 at 12:58 am

    I can eat sushi. That is about all the Japanese I know.

    The shawl is absolutely beautiful!

  5. Romi // May 23, 2007 at 1:49 am

    I *love* the Japanese knitting books!

  6. Eva // May 23, 2007 at 2:57 am

    Gorgeous books :) And that shawl is stupendous :) :) :) I might have to have a look at ordering some of those books one of these days :) Yeah, I’m in a ‘smiley’ mood today :) :):)

  7. Carole // May 23, 2007 at 7:04 am

    That shawl really is gorgeous.

  8. PumpkinMama // May 23, 2007 at 7:05 am

    That is a great shawl – love the geometry of it.

  9. Deb // May 23, 2007 at 9:05 am

    Lovely – but do you REALY read Japanese??

  10. Risa // May 23, 2007 at 9:48 am

    That is a pretty shawl. Glad your earring got lonely and came home!

  11. Carol // May 23, 2007 at 10:04 am

    You are braver than me! My Japanese consist of: tepu rekoda=tape recorder and I can count to 10 in Japanese too!

  12. Kristi aka Fiber Fool // May 23, 2007 at 10:28 am

    Oh my, that shawl is gorgeous! I love that lace pattern!!!!

  13. Laura // May 23, 2007 at 10:29 am

    Ooh. Those books look fabulous. I just hope that the stitches are charted, and that they have good schematics! ;-)

    P.S. Been poking around your blog for the post(s) about the knitting bag you made, was it late last year? Can’t find ‘em. And I can’t find a search utility on your blog! :-( Help.

  14. Kim // May 23, 2007 at 11:57 am

    Japan just rocks crafts an dfiber an d patterns! I second Ina’s suggestion that you talk to Paige of Modern Yarn if you need help.

  15. Faith // May 23, 2007 at 1:15 pm

    How fun! Where’d you get them? I bet you’re going to do great things with these.

  16. Paige // May 23, 2007 at 3:31 pm

    Deb

    Bring them into our SNB one night and I can help you with them–having lived there for 4 years, I spent a lot of time figuring out all those tiny characters.

    Paige

  17. Danielle // May 23, 2007 at 4:11 pm

    I just wanted to let you know how much fun it is to visit here!! I never know what you’ll post about!! ;)

  18. Sheila // May 24, 2007 at 6:11 pm

    I have read that the Japanese knitting books are gorgeous. Let us know how the patterns are when you decide to try a pattern.

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