Well, winter’s just around the corner 'round here, and I’ve been itching to start crocheting another afghan. Only trouble is, having only been in Japan 2 months, I have no idea where to get yarn. The ￥１００ shops have tiny balls (not even big enough for me to think of them as skeins) which might take 50 or more to create a blanket, and since their stock and selection is severely limited, this isn’t really practical. I have found a yarn store, but much like the yarn stores in the states, they tend to sell high-quality yarn at outrageous prices.
What I’m really looking for is a crafts store, something like Michael’s or… uh, that other one who’s name eludes me. It’s getting to the point where I’d go against my morals to shop at Japanese Wal-mart, but they don’t have those, at least not that I’ve seen. Is my only recourse to order skeins? I’d hate to have to do that because most often I plan my projects by wandering through aisles of yarn and comparing colors in my hands. I find that it can be difficult to decide on the color of something online.
Anything that could point me in some direction would be helpful.
If you’re not wise about the yarns of Japan and you read this, I’d be more than happy to hear about people’s favorite patterns. My skill level is somewhere around being able to shape patterns like ripples or bubbles, but I’ve been frustrated trying to do actual pictures.
I’m not terribly knowledgeable about yarn but my wife knits. Appart from the 100-yen stores, your options are dedicated knitting stores and hobby stores. Since you seem to have already tried the first option, then I might suggest you look for the hobby (shugei) places. The actual store names and chains are probably somewhat different from region to region. I know the big chains around where I live only have stores close to Nagoya, for instance.
I have no knowledge of knitting stores, but I was just wondering if your “sticksville, JP” is the same as mine–please see my location. If so, I’d head to Sendai; they seem to have almost everything without all the traffic of Tokyo.
Mmm, a bit further north, in Aomori, actually. I asked around, and no one really knows of any hobby stores, either. Just other yarn stores like the one I visited. I’ve pretty much resigned myself to having someone ship it from the states for me. I know this will add another $30-50 to the price, but I know exactly what I’m getting and the skeins have to be at least 2.5x as big. I don’t know, maybe next time I’m in the capital I’ll check it out, but I’m not too hopeful.
Any crocheters on board want to share patterns with me? I’ve been browsing the Lion Brand website, and gotten some good ideas there, but I’d love to see some people’s favorites. Hell, I guess knitters are more than welcome to chime in-- some patterns translate decently enough.
Twenty years ago when I a was a college student studying in Kobe, I vaguely recall their being some yarn stores there. I may even have a pattern book from those days. Kobe, though, is a bit far from Aomori. Have you thought about ordering yarn on-line? Knit-Picks, www.knitpicks.com, has nice stuff at reasonable prices, and Halcyon,www.halcyonyarn.com, and Patternworks, www.patternworks.com, have some nice stuff, too.
What do you mean by patterns? I’m a fan of cables, myself, but a bit of lace work can be nice. Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns has a couple of examples of picture knitting, things like a cottage, a castle, and an anchor. Right now, in addition to a couple of main projects, I’m working my way through my yarn stash by knitting flowers. I’m going to get married sometime during the next year, and I figure we can scatter them on the tables as decorations.
Amimono de danbatte kudasai, ne? [Good luck with your knitting]
If you can’t read Japanese, you could have someone call these for you to check if they have what you’re looking for in stock. You might try looking at Craft Heart Tokai, as it’s one of the bigger chains, I think.
I don’t know that part of Japan at all, but the area code for Aomori is 017, yes? None of the stores listed there have the same area code, which isn’t a good sign.
Oh, c’mon, Sublight, you know you can’t stay away.
There’s a Tokai craft shop in Aomori city, and they can be quite good. Its address is Aomori Shi, Hamadate 5 chome, 3-1 and its phone number is 017-765-3102.
Also, if you have a big Ito Yokado (they just changed their name in Hokkaido to 7 and i holdings) or a Jusco or Daiei or Aeon etc in your area, they all have craft sections, usually upstairs near to futons etc. There are always a few different types of yarn to choose from there (though not as many as back home.)
If you want to ask where the craft department is you ask “Shugei wa doko desu ka?” and they will direct you, shugei being handicrafts. Or you could say “Keito o kaitai desu…” I want to buy some yarn (keito is yarn).
A knitting needle is “amibo” with a long o, and crochet is “kagibari” a crochet hook is a kagibari no hari (needle) I think.
Thanks, I’m actually headed to Aomori-shi on Friday, so I’ll check it out when I get there. Having terrible Japanese is really frustrating when you’re searching for a specific item. I went to a Jusco and spent awhile just wandering around, because I didn’t know how to say crochet (I need a better dictionary). I’ll let you know how it goes, though.
I’ve made an afghan with a ripple pattern somewhat similar to the picture here, and really enjoyed doing it. I thought the basic shaping was fun, and wondered what kinds of patterns other people enjoyed doing.
I understand the cold weather–crocheting connection. My current crochet buzz has lasted thru the recent summer, however, because I had a friend get into knitting, and we seem to be spurring each other on.
The last afghan I made was a ripple pattern combined with some puff stitches, from the Leisure Arts book, Quick and Cozy Afghans. I can email you the pattern if you like (in jpg format). I actually collect patterns, so I could email you a lot of patterns if you really want. (Most are jpg’s rather than pdf’s, since pdf’s are so dang big.) Send me a pm or an email first, so I know that it’s OK to flood your email box.
Other websites to check out for free patterns, in addition to Lion Brand, are:
[ul]
[li]Bernat (you have to register, but they have a lot of really neat free patterns (patterns are pdf’s).[/li]
[li]Coats and Clark (the makers of Red Heart). It looks like their Canadian site http://www.coatscollection.ca will ship to Japan (or at least they don’t say they won’t). However, as you mentioned up-thread, the Shipping & Handling will be considerable. I know some people don’t like them – but my grandmothers used Red Heart for their afghans, so it’s home-y to me – not to mention darn near indestructable.[/li]
[li]Crochet Me has a lot of fun patterns and is also a fun place to hang out. It was from Crochet Me that I learned an alternate method of starting Crochet in the round, “The Magic Adjustable Ring” http://crochetme.com/magic-adjustable-ring-better-way-begin-crochet-round.[/ul][/li]Good luck with your crocheting and yarn shopping
So I checked out the hobby store in the capital, and after browsing through expensive yarn thought that I had hit the jackpot in the so called “sale bin.” There was a package of 8 balls of good-quality yarn for about $10. I thought to myself that it was too good to be true, and in fact it turned out to be, as they wanted $5 per ball.
I’ve come to the conclusion that Japan is missing a grade of yarn. They have the cheap stuff in the dollar store, and they have the expensive stuff other places, both of which are comparable to the US. However, there is a quality of yarn in the US (a thick Lion Brand, for example) that is a degree in quality above the cheapest you can find, but is only a dollar or so more. In Japan, it appears as if it’s either rags or riches.
Anyway, apart from wanting to rant and seeing if anyone had experienced “mid-grade” yarn in Japan, I wanted to thank everyone for their help with patterns (shout out to daere for clogging my inbox :)), vocabulary, and directions.
Now can anyone give me advice on making hats? The two I’ve tried have been either too tight or too floppy. I can’t seem to get them to shape to a head like a commercial hat does (or even come close to this phenomenon).
The two I’ve tried have been either too tight or too floppy. I can’t seem to get them to shape to a head like a commercial hat does (or even come close to this phenomenon).