I happened to be browsing the lovely Cotton and Cloud website, and came across two amazing looking Japanese Stitch Dictionaries.
The first is a general stitch dictionary of 500 patterns. I purchased this as I knew it would be useful for deciphering more complex patterns - if I recognise cables, bobbles, lace in here, then I can use it to work out more complicated patterns elsewhere and in some of the books I already own.
Then I purchased a book of 250 far more complex couture knitting patterns by one of my favourite Japanese designers, Hitomi Shida. And this one is a complete winner.
Although knitting from Japanese patterns might sound alarming, in actual fact if you are happy knitting from charts, it's not complicated at all. Each pattern is photographed with a good swatch and then the pattern is charted.
And when there are symbols that you might not be familiar with, they are explained with illustrations of the knitting itself. So the explanations are comprehensible as well!
Despite feeling more technical editor than designer, I'm pretty fired up for design work with these books at my side! I can highly recommend purchasing through Cotton and Cloud, even if you get taken over to their partners at YesAsia, since Kyoko at C&C is delightful and on hand to help with any order queries.
