This is super belated, books I got back at the beginning of the year, but now that I’ve gotten a few more recently I’m going to do a series of Japanese book posts over the next few weeks! You may remember my initial excitement about these incredible books from the first time I went to Kinokuniya last year, when I bought my first 2 books, both hats, one knit/crochet, one sewn. I also wrote in that post about Japanese craft books in general, as well as more on Threadbanger, if you want more info.
First one, Knit Work by Hikaru Noguchi (isbn978-4-529-04645-9) – assorted knitting with great style!
Some of my favorites!
Something about most Japanese knitting books – there’s lots of crochet thrown in there, like knit+crochet are equal! Yay! That headband below is crochet (with knit ties):
I love this weirdo intarsia – the concept of having a chart for an abstract blob of colors. Silly and awesome!
And lots of great photo how-tos means non-Japanese speakers can still figure out how to make things, yay!
And the second one, with no English words (isbn978-4-277-17216-5), is all hats!
Mmmmm hats… a couple of favorites:
Again, knit and crochet, together equally.
Speaking of knit and crochet hats, have you seen this 52 hats in 52 weeks project? The artist, Edda Lilja, is in Iceland, and also values the two yarn crafts equally, as you can see in her amazing creations. You can see all the hats here. Some of my absolute favorites (but it’s so hard to choose!): this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one. So inspiring!! Now I need to practice what I preach and start working with crochet more!!
Lee Does Stuff 
very cool and one of the many reasons i love japanese books (crochet + knit). the two crafts complement each other, and both are easy to learn, so i don’t quite comprehend the staunch “I ONLY knit/crochet.”
It’s also nice to see NICE versions of the combo. A lot of times when I do see knit/crochet combined in the states, it’s usually done by an expert knitter/so-so crocheter and it’s almost always a granny square thrown in there. not that i don’t love grannies, but, sigh.
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very cool and one of the many reasons i love japanese books (crochet + knit). the two crafts complement each other, and both are easy to learn, so i don’t quite comprehend the staunch “I ONLY knit/crochet.”
It’s also nice to see NICE versions of the combo. A lot of times when I do see knit/crochet combined in the states, it’s usually done by an expert knitter/so-so crocheter and it’s almost always a granny square thrown in there. not that i don’t love grannies, but, sigh.
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The diagrams in Japanese craft books save my sanity. I have ?????????, from the same publishers of ???????, and the crochet hats are all kinds of adorable. The Let’s Knit series is great (basically Nihon Vogue’s books), as well as books by Kotomi Hayashi, such as Nordic Knitting and Beads Knitting. The first title has step by step instructions for techniques in English as well as Japanese, and each step is accompanied by an action photograph.
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The diagrams in Japanese craft books save my sanity. I have ?????????, from the same publishers of ???????, and the crochet hats are all kinds of adorable. The Let’s Knit series is great (basically Nihon Vogue’s books), as well as books by Kotomi Hayashi, such as Nordic Knitting and Beads Knitting. The first title has step by step instructions for techniques in English as well as Japanese, and each step is accompanied by an action photograph.
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Holy crap! I’ve seen that pink hat in the last photo on someone who comes into the shop. I think she might be Japanese, actually. Haha. I remember thinking “Oh man, I should reverse-engineer that one.”
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Holy crap! I’ve seen that pink hat in the last photo on someone who comes into the shop. I think she might be Japanese, actually. Haha. I remember thinking “Oh man, I should reverse-engineer that one.”
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I love Japanese knitting design. I borowed some of your pictures for inspiration and linked to you. I hope it is allright. Thanks for a great blog.
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I love Japanese knitting design. I borowed some of your pictures for inspiration and linked to you. I hope it is allright. Thanks for a great blog.
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