What crocheter hasn’t been tempted by those books of beautiful Japanese crochet? The Japanese are certainly prolific needleartists and designers. However, most of us find the patterns unaccessible because, aside from the diagrams, we are unable to understand the patterns.
Sample of a Japanese Crochet Book
But, there are some tools online to assist us in making the designs in these books more accessible. Here are some sites for you to check out.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4614412_choosing-japanese-crochet-patterns.html
http://community.livejournal.com/weloveamigurumi/434126.html
http://purlyshells.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-to-read-japanese-crochet-pattern.html
With these articles, I’m hopeful that more of us will be able to use the wonderful Japanese crochet designs
in books and online.
Oh, thank you so much! I absolutely adore Japanese crochet. I’m bookmarking this page right away.
Love these sites…wish I had more time to just sit and crochet.
I think the Japanese crochet patterns are easier to follow than the English onces. The english patterns are very confusing because American and British call the same thing different names.
I have been crocheting since 10 yesrs old, now I am 68. In the 60s I came across a japanese craft store, they sold japanese crochet book. I bought about 6 or 8 books and since then, have been my favorite books. I love to crochet with size 10 thread and love to make table cloths and bedspread. Can you provide me with patterns for these? Round or square table cloths. Filet works too are some of my favorite.
For the patterns you seek, check out http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com . There are many great patterns there for free. Other free pattern sites include those of all the yarn/thread manufactureres and garnstudio.com. Note that some sites might require you to ‘convert’ UK to US crochet terminology.
jd
For all the people who just love Japanese Crochet Patterns, here are few sites that are going to knock your socks off.
http://giftjap.info/
Once the site is open click onto english on the top tab and finally click on download free books and there are many Japanese crochet books for free here.
Another gem I have found is Japanese Yarn Company called Pierrot
http://www.rakuten.co.jp/gosyo/461397/
Once you get to this page allow for your computer to translate from Japanese to English. As you scroll towards the bottom of the page and list of numbers as you click onto them you will find patterns here which are downloadable.
http://www.hamanaka.co.jp/make/index.html
Once the page is open allow for it to be translated and you will find a small selection of patterns.
http://www.selectyarn.com/index.html
This is a fantastic site which has a translation tab and will walk you through on how to understand the symbols.
Good luck everybody enjoy hooking
Thanks for all this information! Very helpful. I’m off to click on those links.
jd