#really disappointed in how simple the lace knitting part of the exam is

[kaiyonohime]

So I got my study book in the mail today for the level 1 lace exam from the Japanese Knitting Organization.  I want to stress the word KNITTING here.

I always forget that, in Japanese, knitting is frequently 手編み, which also covers crochet too.  I was prepared for that, I can study crochet lace because I actually do know how to crochet, I just don’t do it often (long story short I broke two fingers in my right hand many years ago and it hurts to hold my crochet hook for long periods of time.  I knit to compensate).  But it turns out that it means more than that.  A fuckton more.�� 

In Japanese, 手編み (teami) also means bobbin, tatting, macrame, embroidery, cross stitch, and whatever the hell the two images above are.  Does anyone know what those two images relate to?  Because, by the time I take the course next year, I need to be a master at them as graded by Japan’s skill level.  Thankfully, after looking through the book as to the level of product I should be able to produce, probably not hard to be able to study up to be able to pass the exam next year.

Their knitted lace portion is ladder lace, some of the simplest lace in my opinion, and some feathers and fan lace.  Those were their examples of master level lace.  I’m... I’m good on that front.  Really super good.  But I haven’t done crochet lace in years (thankfully Japanese patterns are all charted, and I can read those easily and do it with little difficulty), and, thankfully, YouTube has a shit ton of instructional videos to watch that I can learn from.  And, if I use clothes pins and improvise a pillow (sturdy, round, cloth covered pillows are plentiful and cheap in Japan, as a lot of people use them for sitting on floors with), I can start doing that tomorrow, and I can get tatting supplies at the dollar store easily enough.  I just have no clue what the two pictures are related to.  But I’ve also only glanced at the book, I’ll be reading it much more carefully and taking notes tomorrow.

I need to check to see if I need to bring a completed product.  None of the master lace is beaded.  I want to see the eyebrow raise for my ‘unconventional beaded lace’ if I bring that in as my completed project.  Japan doesn’t do unconventional well, even if the rest of the craft world sees beaded knitting as completely conventional.