An extensive directory covers 200 ripple-stitch patterns and variations, describes techniques used, and level of experience required to complete each project. This book gives readers: -Detailed directions and more than 200 color illustrations to use in completing each project -Tips for combining various types of yarns to create projects featuring a kaleidoscope of color -Access to various knitting and crochet resource Web sites

    As useful as it is fascinating, it's a book any new or aspiring Japanese language scholar will visit over and over. In clear, large-sized entries, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters details each of the General Use Characters In clear, large-sized entires, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters details each of the General Use Characters—the 1,945 characters prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education for everyday use. Both Japanese readings and English meanings are given, along with stroke-count and stroke-order, examples of usage, and suggestions for memorizing. The components of each character are detailed. The Japanese kanji are graded according to Ministry of Education guidelines, allowing the student to prioritize them and track progress. It will appeal to students seeking to learn kanji as well as Japanese language enthusiasts who want to know the history and etymology of Japanese kanji. This book includes:Origins and meanings of over 2,000 characters.Beautifly hand–drawn kanji.Additional compound characters for each featured character.valuable suggestions and mnemonic devices for memorizing characters.All the standard characters official designed for common use.Comprehensive and clear, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters makes Japanese writing accessible to everyone wishing to learn Japanese.

    This title teaches knitters how to read charts - and better yet, how to make the most of them: to seet the a chart is a picture of knitted fabric; to make sense of the symbols in a chart without being tied to its key; and to handle chart quirks.

    The complete versions of both works are too long to be taught in one term, and this abridgement answers the need for a one-volume edition of both works suitable for use in survey courses in classical Japanese literature or world literature in translation and by the general reader daunted by the complete works. The translator has selected representative portions of the two texts with a view to shaping the abridgments into coherent, aesthetically acceptable wholes.Often called the world's earliest novel, The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, is a poetic evocation of aristocratic life in eleventh-century Japan, a period of brilliant cultural efflorescence. This new translation focuses on important events in the life of its main character, Genji. It traces the full length of Genji's relationship with Murasaki, the deepest and most enduring of his emotional attachments, and contains all or parts of 10 of the 41 chapters in which Genji figures, including the "Broom Tree" chapter, which provides a reprise of the themes of the book.In romanticized but essentially truthful fashion, The Tale of the Heike describes the late twelfth-century political intrigues and battlefield clashes that led to the eclipse of the Kyoto court and the establishment of a military government by the rival Minamoto (Genji) clan. Its underlying theme, the evanescence of worldly things, echoes some of the concerns of the Genji, but its language preserves many traces of oral composition, and its vigor and expansiveness contrast sharply with the pensive, elegant tone of the Genji. The selections of the Heike, about 40 percent of the work, are taken from the translator's complete edition, which received great acclaim: "this version of the Heike is superb and indeed reveals to English-language readers for the first time the full scope, grandeur, and literary richness of the work."—Journal of Asian StudiesFor both the Genji and the Heike abridgments, the translator has provided introductions, headnote summaries, and other supplementary materials designed to help readers follow the sometimes confused story lines and keep the characters straight. The book also includes an appendix, a glossary, a bibliography, and two maps.

    Despite her hopes for a quieter, less hectic life, she finds she can't escape her involvement in the city's creative, intellectual and political circles.Oriku finds herself the subject of unanticipated attention, because along with her passion for music, theater and storytelling, she offers her own invaluable talents: a vibrant appreciation of life, an unparalleled gift for hospitality, and the maturity and sensitivity necessary to instruct young people in the all-important arts of love. Her independent thinking and love of Tokyo's traditions offer a unique perspective on the surprising complexity and contradictions of the Japanese culture of the era.Now available in English for the first time, Japan's beloved Mistress Oriku is filled with clear-eyed nostalgia for the vanished—and entirely captivating—world of old Tokyo."They say the pleasures you taste first in middle age are like rain that starts later in the day."

    Born into an eccentric Ohio clan of modern hunter-gatherers, he grew up hearing voices in his head. Over a dizzying two decades, he was many things—teenage faith healer, world traveler, smuggler, liberation theologian, ladder-maker, squatter, halibut hanger, grifter, environmental warrior, and circus manager—all the while wrestling with schizophrenia and self-medication. From Baby Doc’s Haiti to the Czech Velvet Revolution, and from sex, drugs, and a stabbing to public humiliation by the leader of the free world, Monroe-Kane burns through his twenties and several bridges of youthful idealism before finally saying: enough. In a memoir that blends engaging charm with unflinching frankness, Monroe-Kane gives his testimony of mental illness, drug abuse, faith, and love. By the end of Lithium Jesus there may be a voice in your head, too, saying “Do more, be more, live more. And fear less.”

    Serafini explains the fundamentals behind her work, from stitches to color theory, and lays out 25 beautifully textured projects that feature fabulous focal-point beads. Sherry Serafini is a renowned beading teacher and a featured artist in the book Masters: Beadweaving. Other books in Lark Jewelry & Beading's Beadweaving Master Class series have been authored by Diane Fitzgerald, Marcia DeCoster, Laura McCabe, Maggie Meister, and Rachel Nelson-Smith.

    With fundamental skills for beginners that progress to more sophisticated designs, this book covers techniques such as basic wirework, texturizing, silver fusing, adding patina, and traditional finishes.Included are over 30 projects for making custom wire findings, each accompanied by step-by-step photographs and directions to ensure success.

    Sad Toys is a collection of 194 Tanka, the traditional 31-syllable poems that evoke Japan's misty past.

    If you're short of time or need a quick gift for a birthday, keep this eBook handy - it's sure to become a lifesaver when you're in a pinch. Be sure to stock up on Lion Brand Imagine Yarn so you're always prepared to make a quick craft.Believe it or not, Lion Brand Imagine Yarn can be the sole supply for a bunch of creative projects. For instance, you can create a scarf by simply unwinding the yarn and creating a series of knots. These crafts to do with yarn are as varied as they are intricate. In this free eBook, you'll find delicate jewelry crafts, winter wearables and even a plant hanger. Decorate your home and accessorize your wardrobe, all you need is Lion Brand Imagine Yarn. Make gifts for friends and family members or create something you can keep - it's up to you. Either way, you won't get bored with this vast assortment of crafts with yarn.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    Scarves, Shawls & Shrugs is the first in a new series by renowned designer Iris Schreier that showcases the many possibilities of working with just two skeins of yarn. Mixing yarn types, weights, and colors, she presents a dazzling array of stylish and sophisticated wraps. Schreier created about half the projects herself, while other prominent designers provided the rest.  The projects range from easy to unique and offer new ideas for blending yarns and creating pieces with high appeal, beautiful drape, and practical functionality.

    Owner and designer Hadley Fierlinger shares her lovingly crafted collection of hand-knitted, heirloom-quality garments for infants and toddlers aged six months to three years. From caps, cardigans, and mittens to booties, bonnets, and blankets–each pattern features delicate period details hearkening back to the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s while offering modern comfort and a contemporary preference for natural and organic yarns. This is a delightful gift for mothers-to-be, grandmothers, godmothers, aunties, and others, offering a full range of keepsake projects at proficiency levels for beginner, intermediate, and experienced knitters.

    More than 20 truly stunning projects, all using peyote stitch, come in a variety of flat and dimensional shapes, from triangles, teardrops, and pentagons to tetrahedrons, cubes, and diamonds. Sleek, contemporary, and breathtaking, these beadwoven pieces are perfect for the intermediate crafter—but with such clear and detailed instructions, even beginners will give them a try! Diane Fitzgerald is a featured artist in the book Masters: Beadweaving. Other books in Lark Jewelry & Beading's Beadweaving Master Class series have been authored by Marcia DeCoster, Laura McCabe, Sherry Serafini, Maggie Meister, and Rachel Nelson-Smith.

    This book is centered around those essays that generations have regarded as containing the essence of Dogen's teaching. These translations, revised from those that first appeared in the 1970s, clarify and enrich the understanding of Dogen's religious thought and his basic ideas about Zen practice and doctrine. Dogen's uncommon intellectual gifts, combined with a profound religious attainment and an extraordinary ability to articulate it, make Sho�bo�genzo� unique even in the vast literature the Zen school has produced over the centuries, securing it a special place in the history of world religious literature.