Girl on the Rocks » japanese-craft-book | Girl on the Rocks

There are two reasons why I have been good about bringing my lunch to work….

karrie — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:55:55 +0000

There are two reasons why I have been good about bringing my lunch to work…

1.) California cutes are delicious

2.) My new lunch bag

The pattern is from the japanese book Motif Crochet winter accessories and I think it is for a little bento lunch box. So that is what I am using it for.

For yarn I chose Knitpicks CotLin, which at the time I purchased it had a really limited color palette. I can’t believe I lucked out and picked something I like so much (especially since the colors are much brighter in person than they are on the webpage). I just looked, and they have added some new colors. that’s good news, because this is NICE yarn. It is DK weight 70% Cotton 30% linen blend that after washing makes a fantastic fabric. There was a significant color bleed and lightening that happened during the Eucalan bath, but it still looks great (and smells a heck of a lot better). I want to use it to crochet all kinds of washable household items like washcloths and placemats.

I thought the bag was so photogenic, I did a photo shoot. I’ll leave you with the results:

I don’t speak or read Japanese. Is that a problem?

karrie — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:57:19 +0000

Pretty much without even a second thought, I recently bought a few Japanese craft books in Japantown. These are my first, and while I don’t speak or read Japanese, everyone always says the diagrams are so good that you can figure everything out from the pictures.

Well, they are mostly right. So far my experience is just with crochet which hasn’t been too bad. Instead of having row by row directions, all of the patterns are represented in charts. In each book there is a section where they define what the symbols mean, and have some of the best instructional diagrams I have ever seen. I dare say the ambitious could teach themselves to crochet from these diagrams.

I made it through my first pattern by flipping back and forth between the chart and the instructions with almost no problem. Now I am not sure that I even want to ever read a non-charted crochet pattern again!

Every once in a while I do wonder things like “What is the title of this book?” and “That little arrow is labelling something that is clearly important. I wish I could read what it says…” I am trying to compile a list of helpful online sources for translation, but many are for knitting… i’m working on it…. in the mean time, if you have a japanese pattern that you are trying to read, I have found some friendly, helpful Ravelers in the Japanese knitting and Crochet group and Tawashi Town.

If you don’t know what a Tawashi is (I didn’t until last week), stay tuned because they are cute cute cute!

I am old on the inside

karrie — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:01:40 +0000

I can’t wait to get old and retire. Well, I guess I can wait, but I already have plans. I will get an old lady helmet hair perm, and enjoy my weekly gossip filled salon visits. i will yank my pants up too high (I’m guessing they will be corduroy) and act like I don’t see anyone else as i bump my cart into everyone when I am shopping at the grocery store. I will barely be able to peer over my steering wheel and if I bother to parallel park (as I will actively seek pull-through parking lot spaces* whenever possible) I will bump off of both surrounding cars every time. I will go directly to the window at the post office despite the giant line because hey – I’m old. i don’t have time to wait and no one will get mad at me because I am old. And even though I could take a minute to figure out what is going on, I will just act confused and get my problem solved right away (at least that is what I guess they are thinking when that happens EVERY time I am at the post office). I will probably die surrounded by weird collections of something that I couldn’t bear to throw out – like yogurt containers or wine corks (I have a dangerously sizeable collection of these already). I will be surrounded by a million cats. I don’t have a cat, but I love them. I am saving it up for future crazy-cat-ladyhood.

In the mean time i figure it is that crazy little old lady inside me that thinks things like these are the most wonderful things ever.

More pics.

They are crocheted Chair cushions!! Aren’t they fantastic? I am guessing from the questionable “uh-huh” response all my friends give me when I ask them that question that it might be my inner granny that is irrationally captivated by these things. They are pretty much the entire reason I bought a whole Japanese Craft book. did you notice that the first one is ALL little poofy flowers?! I already have a recipient for one of these fantastic cushions:

My desk chair. It will look great with a square cushion, don’t you think?

* In my family these parking spaces are called “Aunt Carmella Parking spaces.” my great Aunt Carmella was the designated transporter of all of my great aunts and she would only park in parking spaces that she could pull through. The only thing she ever backed out of was her driveway.

Well hello there

karrie — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:17:18 +0000

Hard to believe that I haven’t had anything to say in such a long time, huh? Well, I was busy with a visit from my hometown friends!

We went to Alcatraz

Don’t let this photo fool you – I really like it there

Did you know that some of the prisoners crocheted? Something tells me they weren’t really using pink yarn…

We tasted wine

Ancient vines at Valley of the Moon Winery

And we went to Daiso AND Japantown – see why we get along? I had to make a pit stop and by the time I made it into Kinokuniya, Amanda had already found the craft books. The next two hours are a blur. Despite the complete variety of books, I inadvertently chose only crochet books:

Motif crochet winter accessories

Tiny crochet accessories

Magic Scrubbers Part 8

Title translations are from some helpful Ravelers. The books have served as the focus of my crafting since I got them. Stay tuned for finished projects!