Knitting - UK (2021-07)

16 knittingmag.com

JAPANESE LACE STEP BY STEP

CHRISTINE BOGGIS LOOKS AT SOME OF THE STITCHES

THAT MAKE JAPANESE LACE PATTERNS SO EXQUISITE

Many of the beautiful stitch patterns we see in Japanese design

collections and stitch dictionaries are made up of the stitches that

make up any lace pattern, from the simplest to the most complex:

yarn overs and decreases over various numbers of stitches, leaning

in different directions.

But these can be put together in ways we might not be used to from

classic western knitting patterns, and then there are some intriguing

stitches that can look pretty daunting on a Japanese knitting chart.

Here I take a pattern from Hitomi Shida’s comprehensive stitch

dictionary the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible, translated by Gayle

Roehm (see page 14) and published by Tuttle, and introduce you to

some of the stitches that make up this beautiful design.

Twisted stitch

(k tbl)

Right-leaning

twisted decrease

(k2tog)

Wrong-side

decrease (ssp)

Half treble

crochet bobble

Left-leaning

twisted decrease

(ssk)

Butterfly

stitch