Sunday, November 29, 2009

Crafting Japanese


I have a huge fondness for Japanese Craft Books. I have collected a few, and have actually used them to make several items, all sewn.
I stumbled upon some crochet books - written of course- in Japanese. Just for one little second lets ignore the fact that I'm a fairly inexperienced crocheter, not to mention I cannot read a word of Japanese, not one word.



How could I resist? The cute factor is just to great.



Cute.




Cute.




So... I'm boldly forging ahead. The crochet patterns are all on schematic charts. Because this method is international, there are several sites online that offer information on how to follow this method of crochet. The information that I found even suggested that the system was invented by the Japanese in the 1960's. For many years it was referred to as the JIS (Japanese International Symbol) system.
The premise being, that if there is only one set of symbols - internationally recognized- language would not matter, as you would only need to know the symbols to "read" the pattern.
Excellent.
Now, I just need to know a few key phrases to get my needle size and yarn type/weight.

I purchased this pattern book here. You can also find this seller here. I have shopped this store before - numerous times - and have always been happy with the transactions.
The book is called 18 projects of Making Room Hats
Publisher Nihon Vogue Sha Nov.'06
I am unable at this time to find an isbn #

5 comments:

Margret said...

good luck, what one are you going to make first? I vote the second last beanie style one, gorg.

Melynda said...

Because I already had the yarn I started the beanie with the ear flaps featured on the cover.

Unknown said...

oh please keep us posted on how it goes. those hats are soo super cute, i'd love to know how yours comes out.

goosefairy said...

i want to encourage you in this endeavor. i never knew a lick of crochet and had someone show me the basics. once you have that you can figure out so much on your own and there's always someone out there who is happy to guide you if you need it.

have fun!

Sigrid said...

I have a weakness for these books too, and have found that I really like the symbol system. I love that ribbed hat.