All Swag Great and Small
I’ve been having a LOT of fun on my job lately. At this time of the year, that has not always been my song du jour. The weather can make le travail un jour sans joie. Or the politics, a filibuster of pain.
Well, this was NOT an election year and I wasn’t stuck with the candidates on the trail. It Was a World Series year ( for the first time in 88 ans) and one could revel in the faces, etc. of players in their prime, fans estatic and yes, off topic discoveries.
While shooting a profile on the fellow quite possibly Rookie of the Year, White Sox player Tadahito Iguchi, a new mall was discovered out in the near Northwest Suburbs. This was not a super mall but had a lot of spice on its own: grocery store, fine liquours, gifts, large food court, a miraculously incredible Dollar Store AND a book store. What made this mall so enticing to me?
It was entirely Japanese…
This merited a trip back this weekend when I could look for what I just thought might be hidden treasure socked away in the realm of the bookstore itself: White Gold! Printed Page! JAPANESE KNITTING MAGAZINES!!!
I was not disappointed!
There was a Whole Section of Books and Magazines devouted to our beloved stitch craft. I was so ecstatic but so spent by the display that within a few minutes, I had to go devour a Bento Lunch Box Special in the food court and fuel up for a second round of pleasure.
Once again energized, I returned to make my selection and here’s what I came away with –
the freshest selection awaited…
I was prepared for the difference in format in these mags because I have a couple of others, sent to me by the lovely Ms. Cruz…
They are read back to front, left to right and have the entire pattern, given graphically on one page. All the statistical information is in the area of the graph – I love this – wonder if it will ever catch on here? What’s really appealing to me is that it appears to this eye to be a fusion of trad written pattern with machine instructions…
But of course, one only has to go mining online to find a plethora of tips about reading and using international patterns. I found these links to be very helpful…
— Tata-Tatao’s Tutorial (wander around this site and you will be greatly rewarded in other ways as well!)
— Clearwater Knits Fabulous Lessons
— Practice your graph skills on these hat patterns from *Puppy*
— Knit Japan Links
Asahiya Bookstore
Mitsuwa Marketplace
100 E Algonquin Rd
Arlington Hts, Illinois
Monday Morning Mirth 
