But today, I would like to feel fresh and let you know about this wonderful Japanese-inspired book called Haiku Knits by Tanya Alpert. She is an owner of Knitting by the Beach (great things there BTW!) and has two wonderful blogs, The Knitting Sommerlier and Tanya Alpert. The book is forwarded by Erica Knights (you know it’s good, right?).

As a Japanese person who knits, I felt it was my duty to review this book. As soon as I received this book, opened and looked through, I was impressed about the following three points: 1) structure of the book, 2) designs and 3) fibres used.

Mmmm.... I am totally indulging on this cozy design...

STRUCTURE

In this book, there is no jargon, no gibberish, no too much wording. It is not pretentious. It is honest, clear and helpful. It’s excellent. I like a book like this.

The contents are SO CLEARLY laid out. The general structure of the content is: a) main design image b) introduction and material information with clear diagrams, c) patterns.

This means that when you see a project that you want to knit, you can quickly “assess” knittability (whether it is a quick-knit or the one you need to spend time). There is absolutely no risk that you get lost in this book.

At the end of the book, there are about 16 pages of information about essential knitting techniques and information with pictures. Again, it is clear and I find it so user-friendly.

DESIGNS

Every design is gorgeous and cleverly constructed yet simple. Many don’t have the usual structure of the garment so you know that the garment will hang on you very artistically ♥

Often in a standard craft books there are probably 1 or 2 projects that you would like to make (hence you would buy the book). In Haiku Knits, you would more likely to find at least 5 designs that you would knit – that, I can guarantee.

By looking through the images, I think these garments are the kind of knitwear that you emphasize when you wear it to tell people “look! I made this, doesn’t it look great?”.

FIBRE

Tanya is not afraid of using VARIOUS FIBRES. The kind of yarn used varies from standard merino to Habu linen paper. It is a great book for you to try out different kinds of yarns if you haven’t yet done so.

If you have read my previous yarn review you know this, but characteristics and the beauty of the yarn does not simply limit to it’s softness. Tanya’s designs really draws out the goodness of individual yarn.

This is the book that would leads to a bigger world of knitting.

Smart 3D design. I would definitely wear this in summer.

There are so many more images I would like to show you, but there isn’t enough space!