Japanese Knitting Pattern Questions

#1

Hi There,

Here is a Japanese knitting pattern. I’m using double pointed needles for this project.

Japanese Knitting Pattern
Japanese Knitting Pattern1217×1770 564 KB

I have labeled certain parts I have questions about with red letters. Please see below for my corresponding questions:

A. What does this mean?
B. What’s going on here? How do I complete this part when there are no stitches in between?
C. What does this mean?
D. Why is there an arrow pointing to the right when arrows just like this on other lines are pointing to the left?

It has taken me a LONG time to understand how to read the other parts of this pattern so having answers to the above will be a huge help.

Thank you!!

#2

A. I have no idea what it means but it can be safely ignored.
B. For the crown of the hat you do decreases (K2tog), and because of that there are fewer stitches. The empty space simply means that there is nothing to knit there.
C. When you get to this point you just pull the yarn through all of the stitches and pull tight and weave in the yarn.
D. You actually first knit the hat without ear flaps. After the hat is made you pick up the cast on stitches and knit the ear flaps and as the work is upside down, the direction is also like that.

This is how I would knit it (without knowing Japanese):

  1. First check your gauge: 10cm x 10cm = 14s x 19r
  2. Cast on 72 st and work in the rounds until you got 15 rows (8cm)
  3. Decrease every 4th row as in the diagram with K2tog (20 rows, 10.5 cm)
  4. Pull yarn through the rest of the stitches and pull tight and weave in the end.
  5. Pick up 17 stitches from the cast on and knit the first ear flap with the decreases marked in the diagram.
  6. Bind off the first ear flap.
  7. Count so you got 22 stitches between and pick up 17 stitches for the second ear flap and then finish it in the same way as the first ear flap.
  8. After this you are supposed to pick up totally 112 stitches from both the hat and the ear flaps and make a border. I have no idea what kind of border you are supposed to make, so take your artistic abilities to use and either crochet a border or knit a ribbing, or knit garter or any stitch you want. It is to prevent the hat from curling.

The gray stitches are where you are supposed to add beads.

#3

Thank you so much!!!

So I’ve only knitted in the round once a really long time ago. Probably around the time I purchased this which was about 4 years ago.

Can you recommend a YouTube video which demonstrates B or an American pattern where the illustration or chart shows these large spaces in between which means there is nothing to knit? It’s hard for me to understand how to continue from one “pillar” to another (I’m calling them pillars) when there is nothing to knit. Perhaps I just have to get started and do it in order to understand the process.

#4

Those “pillars” are actually not pillars at all. They are attached to each other all the way up. It is like this picture of the Earth:

7920×3472

There are no pillars as everything is attached all around the Earth, but if you want to keep things in scale you need to break up the picture on paper. Otherwise you end up with oversized North and South poles.

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#5

Thank you again!
You’ve actually made it possible for me to begin the project :slight_smile:

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#6

I can help with this. Crochet symbols are used in two places.

  1. The black ovals at the end of each ear flap are crochet slip stitches.
  2. The top right diagram showing the stitch counts for the edging. Below it is a line of X’s with a black arrow pointing to a hollow oval. That oval is a chain stitch that does not count in the 112 stitches. The X’s indicate single crochet (US) or double crochet (UK) for the edge.
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#7

Thanks! I actually don’t know how to crochet. I have a crochet needle but I don’t know what size it is.

What can I do instead of crocheting?

#8

One question about this- do these boxes mean that I skip over them and don’t knit a stitch? For example, if there are 20 stitches on a line and two boxes on this line are gray, does this mean that I only knit 18 stitches?
Or do I knit these gray box stitches and then place a pom pom over each one?

#9

:thinking: :thinking: :thinking:
Well, after your bind off you can pick up the 112 stitches (with out working them) around the hem.

Next knit the first stitch but keep it on the left needle. Slip the new stitch from the right back to the left needle as well. Now knit the new stitch again. (This replicates the rising chain for your first single crochet stitch.)

Repeat the following steps to knit each of the 112 single crochet stitches.

K1, place your left needle through two stitches on the right needle and knit together (one SC completed.)

This will be similar to SC edging but different enough that it may drive a crocheter crazy trying to figure out how you did it.

Thank you for asking. I now know how to knit single crochet.

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#10

You also knit the gray boxes.

#11

Beads like these can be threaded on your yarn before you cast on and then worked into a purl stitch.

or pom poms like this can be sewn on the gray knit (or purl) stitches.

#13

Thanks very much!

#14

Thanks!

#15

So now I have finished knitting the hat except for the ear flaps.

Here is a photo of mostly just the ear flaps instructions.

20201213_084833
20201213_0848332831×1592 1.16 MB

Some questions:

  1. I’m looking at the ear flap all the way to the right. I am picking up the stitches from directly next to the cast on tail, right?

  2. Am I picking up the stitches correctly?- here’s a photo

    20201213_132109
    20201213_1321092875×1617 979 KB

  3. Am I going to be reading the pattern grid from right to left? I might be overthinking this but I’m asking because of the reverse arrows: -->1 and then <–2.
    For example, you’ll notice that “y” symbol on the grid means left increase and a backwards y means right increase. This is new for me so I hope this isn’t too obvious but which am I doing first? I guess this would depend on which direction I am reading the grid.

  4. For the ear flaps, I just use two of my double pointed needles and knit as if I was using straight needles?
    The pattern is stockinette but I know in the round I just keep knitting which is what I did.
    For these ear flaps, do I K1 row and then P1 row?

Thanks very much!