We were so thrilled to find this book on sale at Hakubundo, our favorite Japanese bookstore (please stop by, if you're in Honolulu). The great thing about this book is that it explains some of the Japanese knitting methods, in English!

This is truly the beginner, technique basics. Here are the types of info you'll see:

• Provisional cast-on using a crocheted chain (they translated it as ""Casting on through loops of chain"") For the uninitiated, the Japanese use provisional cast ons much more often than we do in the US.
• Tubular Cast on - they translated this as ""Casting on Sts for K1, P1 rib"" and similar for the K2, P2 rib)
• Basic stitches with the Japanese symbols - stuff like knit, purl, ssk, skp, s2 k1 psso, m1l, m1r. with CLEAR illustrations
• Some very basic illustration of the Japanese increase/decrease notation, with graphs and fully written to illustrate how to interpret the notation