How to read Japanese patterns like a pro in 90min
Our lovely ladies from Tiny Rabbit Hole are finally certified! They have completed “How to read Japanese patterns like a pro in 90min“! Woohoo! It was meant to be 90min, but yeah, we like to bitch and crochet and we took half a day instead hahaha! Look at all their tired and smiley faces. They’re still not pretty much done yet, because the next step is to do homework to prove that they fully understood. Better be strict with them =D
Why we decided to teach Japanese?
We have been running this workshop for almost 6 months already! We received many requests from students, customers and friends who wants to make their favourite disney characters and other cute animals from the Japanese books. However when they opened up the book, they told me that their heads felt heavy and put the book back.
But the characters in the Japanese books are simply irresistible! So I decided to brave myself to teach a language that I’m very bad in, breaking wall of texts and diagrams down to something understandable and readable.
Our secret manual
Although my Japanese has become rusty since I learned it almost 10 years ago with 0 practice (other than my regular anime bingeging), I’m very confident to tell you that you don’t require any Japanese knowledge to learn how to read the Japanese pattern.
Not convinced?
Nikki from @ohdangcrochet, who came from the States stumbled into our humble rabbit hole one day for holiday and shared with me her desire to read the Japanese pattern book she bought ages ago but she couldn’t decipher it. She was reluctant to give it all up since she had already invested in buying the book. Upon hearing her concerns, I decided to offer her an impromptu crash course the next day since she’s only here for a few days. I really hope that she could pick up the book once again and tell herself this is an easy feat!
And tada! Nikki completed it with no qualms at all! Although Nikki cheated a little. She has learned Chinese before so she could actually recognise some of the kanji characters in my secret manual! Nevertheless, a non-Chinese or non-Japanese reader is not a problem at all =D
Experiencing the magical burrow
Nikki shared about her experience with us!
It’s super awesome to meet up with Nikki and talk about crochet and our countries and stuff! It’s definitely an interesting experience to meet crochet lovers from other parts of the world in real life! Do check out her cute little crafts popping all over her instagram. Her post below has totally tickled me =DD
Sneak Peek
Look at them, so stressed. This is the last page of the manual, just for those curious cats out there who wants to take a peek. I’ve included how to read Chinese symbols and understanding Chinese crochet terms too as many Japanese books have been translated to Chinese. Is it time to brush up your mother tongue?
We have learned a little bit more about Juliet
Juliet gives us surprises time to time. From our occasional Thursday #TRHExperiments meetup with these ladies, we learn a little more about everyone. We just found out that Juliet majored in Japanese Studies during her uni days for 4 years and she is super good with her Japanese! Although she said that she is rusty now, her level is too high to be compared with. Read up about Juliet, our student turned crochet trainer here!
Join us for a Japanese pattern reading crash course
Hope you enjoyed this little sharing! If you’re interested in our workshop, you may find out more here!
We also hope to meet more crochet lovers from all over the world if you came to visit Singapore, or let us know that you want to meet with us by dropping a comment below ๐
Mata ne~