WTF was I thinking? And a good thing.

For about a week now I have been obsessing over a Japanese crochet pattern, so the other day during lunch, I buzzed up to Kinokuniya to look for it.  If you're unfamiliar, Kinokuniya is a Japane-based book store with several outlets around the world.  I first discovered it when I worked in  30 Rockefeller Plaza, which was just down the block from their NYC store (which has since relocated).  Like many other people, I really grooved on the paper products, and ended up buying a refillable metal ring notebook and paper.  The paper was special, of course, having many, many holes along the left side, requiring that I return to the store for the next three years whenever I needed to stock up.  But that notebook and the special paper, which came in pastel shades of peach, green and blue, made me happy at a time when not much else about my job did, so I gladly made these special trips.

These days I have less of a need for paper, but I still have an appreciation for modern Japanese aesthetics, especially Japanese crochet.  It's often pretty and lacy without being twee, and they do innovative things with interesting fibers, like paper and stainless steele.  In any event, I saw a beautiful crescent-shaped scarf on Ravelry that I couldn't get out of my head, so I decided to track down the book from which it came.  I knew the name of the book and I knew that Kinokuniya had a large selection of craft books, so merrily off I went.

Only I didn't really know the name of the book. I thought it was called "3 Day Crochet." In fact, it's called "Easy Crochet, Complete in 3 Days!"

Also, I didn't have the author's name. Or the book's ISBN.  These mistakes made it impossible for the nice clerk to locate the book in the store's system.  Also, Kinokuniya has a couple hundred knit and crochet books, including special sections for lace, amigurumi and children's wear.  All in Japanese.  I tried browsing the books' covers, but there were so many and I had so little time.  I'm not sure what I was thinking, heading off, essentially to a foreign country with no map, no language skills and no real plan of attack.  So I didn't get that book, (I see Amazon.jp in my future), but I did get this one:

It is so exciting!  Poking about for a good while online (again, I can't read Japanese), I learned that it's called Motif Book, vol. 4, by Nihon Vogue (ISBN 978-4-529-04442-4, in case you're interested).  I love how it's shot and styled as much as I love the patterns, and it has me inspired to get back into crochet, which was rather neglected by me in 2009.  To wit:

Details:

Pattern: Improvised

Yarn: Frog Tree Brushed Suri

Hook: 5.5mm

Started: January 13

Finished: January 16

I've been wanting to make an airy stole in neutral colors for a while now, so this fit the bill rather perfectly.  I hate, HATE knitting with lace weight yarn, whether the needles be big or small; it makes me feel that I'm losing my mind. Crochet, on the other hand, is completely lovely with super fine yarn.  This improvised pattern is a riff on the traditional knitted feather and fan pattern, and I have to say I'm really very happy with the result. It's soft and pretty and feminine and traditional, not words I typically use to describe myself.  Perhaps that's part of the allure? The result also has a very "knitterly" look, but was done in a fraction of the time it would have taken me to knit it for real. And that, as Martha says, is a Good Thing.