Love the crafty Japan

I‘m　lucky to be in a city that`s not too big but has plenty of yarn stores at my disposal. So far, I`ve found 3 yarn shops that are VERY knitter friendly. Lots of great deals, especially on discontinued yarn lines and out of season yarn (i.e. 50g balls of decent wool yarn for 150 yen apiece (just over $1US). I have even found some great knitting books.

The best part of Japanese knitting and crochet books is that they most have the patterns charted out for you. No need to know Japanese, just check the stitche guide at the back of the book and see step by step pictures for everything you need to know. There`s even a book of great summer hats that I have started in on. I`m working my way through a crocheted linen cloche with a stylish fold in it to give it an unusual shape.

I`ve found my knitter`s paradise. Thank you, yarn gods, for sending me here.

Alive in Japan!

I`m alive, and I found an internet cafe!

I`ve been in Fukuyama for 2 weeks now, and I think I`ve found my way around quite well. I know where to get cheap movies, American CDs, and books. Oh yeah, and this town is full of GREAT craft shops. I need two hands to count all the places I`ve been to that have rooms packed with great yarn. Imagine getting a 50g ball of nice all wool yarn for less than $2. Yeah, it`s like that. I think my knitting will be just fine here.

Next I need to get a basic beginner book in Japanese so I can decipher all those juicy Japanese yarn terms. I`ve got a book that is partially bilingual. It explains Norwegian knitting techiniques in English and Japanese, but the instructions for the projects are in Japanese only. And they use metric, which I`m not too up on.

Anyways, yay Japan!