i hear you, habu

All the new trends, ideas, crazes and passions in knitting are like white noise to me. I am aware of them clamouring for attention, but as they all seem to reach me on the same frequency and at the same volume, I am often unable to work out which one to listen to.

But I think that Habu Textiles must have changed frequency recently because I have become more and more aware of it within the wide spectrum of knitting noise. It started with Alison who writes so beautifully about the Habu philosophy and the sculptural quality of the yarns and, once I had picked up the sound of Habu, I started to hear it everywhere.

Then I found the book. This has been my bedside reading for quite a few weeks now. I find looking at the photos of the strange and wonderful knits taken in front of the simplest of backdrops utterly captivating and, when allied to a habit of contemplating the Japanese knitting patterns, really quite soothing and soporific, and I fall asleep thinking of unusual yarns and knitted creations which challenge my perceptions of clothing. 

I've managed to go to New York several times and miss Habu completely. So on my most recent visit, I decided it was time to make the journey to the yarn store which also challenges our ideas of what a yarn store should be. I knew I'd be on borrowed time with Alice and Phoebe in tow (I wouldn't be able to give the yarns and patterns the full thought they need with two girls sighing and rolling their eyes in the corner), so did most of my planning by email.

Habu were incredibly helpful and I pre-ordered a couple of kits to be collected on the day so that we wouldn't have to wait for the yarn to be wound onto cones and could therefore spend more time in Billy's Bakery. They discussed colour choice and let me know yarn availability in advance and made up the kits in Medium but with Large quantities of yarn to allow for my extra height.   

So when we turned up at the utterly anonymous-looking building and found ourselves in the Habu room which is just as all the photos show - small, simple, plain and devoted to the low-key (no shrill noises here - more the soft lapping of waves) -  and I wasn't taken aback, I realised I had tuned into Habu pretty well.

Habu seems to invoke a sort of calmness, a total lack of knitting hysterics, and I knew I couldn't start knitting until I had cleared my other projects. So it wasn't until this weekend that I cast on Kit 21 which is knitted with two yarns - linen paper and silk - and mine are (what a surprise) both food colours: eggplant and cocoa (sounds like a horrible taste combination, but it's looking good on the needles).

 

I wanted to go for a full-on Japanese knitting experience and use bamboo needles, but I found the yarns stick too much so I changed to the very European Addi Turbos which don't look as lovely, but do the job better for me. I haven't yet hit pattern issues as the back is straightforward and requires no shaping, but I know I have the joys of decoding the instructions to look forward to. I realise also that there may be a little squeak of anxiety around button-choice (I see that buttons are a big issue with many Habu aficionados) as I don't yet have the buttons for this jacket/cardigan. (When Tom asked me what I was knitting I wasn't sure what to say - Setsuko's designs are more for knitted pieces to wear on bodies rather than for the standard types of garments we are so used to knitting).

I've knitted a few inches of the back and am feeling my way into the experience. It really is a new tactile sensation as well as a conceptual one. And it's also auditory; when you block out all the white noise of daily life, you really can hear your knitting - the paper yarn makes little soft rustling sounds. But you need to be very quiet to hear it.

                                ***

Book details: Setsuko Torii Hand-Knit Works ISBN 895113825

I also like this knitting book with one of the most beguiling covers I've ever seen and some lovely knitting inside.

Knit ISBN 277113753

Both from Amazon Japan

Comments

[natalie]

Have a look at Avril

http://homepage1.nifty.com/avril/index.html

I think there is some connection between Setsuko Torii and Avril too.
The Avril Shops are quirky places, the one in Osaka is on the first floor of a building quite a distance from the city centre. You choose your yarns from cones and then they wind them together for you onto a single cone to take away.
Like Habu they sell papery yarns and metallics too. The website is only in Kapanese but it's fairly easy to navigate and the yarns are inspiring.

n

[natalie]

Ooops - sorry, Japanese!

n

[Roobeedoo]

There are some beautiful buttons over at bedecked dot co dot uk which might suit your style.

[Gemma]

Like you I've been hearing Habu whispering at the edges of my mind too. I haven't knitted an actual garment before but I am feeling a hankering for one. Either Kit 21 which you have or Kit 70 I think it was. Shipping to the UK was actually pretty reasonable too as were the prices on the web. To the point where I am beginning to wonder whether they include the yarn in that or if it is just the pattern!

[ali]

Ooh, that second book cover is calling to me...

Happy knitting-
ali

[Peg in Kensington, California]

The store is wonderful. But I agree that you were right to think ahead; there are too many choices and very little space.

I love the colors and books on your blog. Thank you for all of the tulips. I will have to order the some of the books from Persephone.

[Polly]

Why are the Japanese so exquisitely stylish in everything they do? Polly x x x

[Kathleen]

Japanese craft books--you are on the road to perdition now. :) I have a growing stack of them. I love the aesthetics of both the books and the items themselves.

I've been knitting a sweater with Habu Cotton Gima. The tactile and visual experience is quite different from Western yarns and demands a different type of attention. I can't wait to see how your project turns out.

Kathleen

[gillie]

I am trying to close my ear (the advantage of limited hearing is the need only to shut one ear to the call to spend next months income on more stash!) to what appears to be tactile knitting heaven. Perhaps if I could only finish the two pairs of socks, the granny square throw, the quilt and catch up with the photos and scrapping I wouldn't feel quite so bad about googling habu and tentatively encouraging the urge to purchase just a little, for experimental purposes only ??!

[Alison]

Slow waves of rustling paper, whispering gently as you knit. And you knit, in, as you say, a slightly hysteric trance of 'oneness' with the yarn. It really is about connecting to the piece you make.

And once you start thinking in numbers, it's very hard to go back to english written patterns! I find when i draft out patterns now I write it all down as numbers. Saves so much space and thought.

[kittykitty]

It's funny, the"Knit" book was actually my first Japanese Pattern that I bought after seeing Pinku post about many years ago. When I first saw that book I dreamed of making the sweaters on the front in the Green Paper and stainless steel. It took me many 3 years to get up the courage to make it though, but I was so happy I did.

Welcome to the Habu addiction, next step is the Habu 12 step program of addiction. :)

[Petra]

Dear Jane, the books and your knitting is wonderful.
Are the books in english or only in japanese? I'm not able to read japanese so can I knit whith this books?
Thank you
Petra from Germany

[Gina]

oh that looks beautiful!

[Kathy Merrick]

Oh, the Setsuko Torii book is beautifully amazing! I was in Habu last week and succumbed to a cotton gima kit (#76) in deep khaki and pale saxe indigo.
I took a two day workshop with Setsuko several years ago. She was charming and patient and showed more cool ideas in a few hours than I'll ever have ever.
Her advice I remember most vividly was, "don't suffocate the stitches! Use larger hooks/needles!"

[pam]

Perhaps there'll have to be a trip to The Button Queen in Marylebone Lane in your future when te knitting is far enough advanced...

[chantal]

I have that second knitting book you posted - which, I also bought while on a trip to NYC. I really like it. The pictures of the knitting inside are really lovely.

[Lee]

Not appropos of the current post but of your whole blog--have you seen the new big photo book UK At Home? (I can't figure out how to underline in the comment.) It is filled with photos of daily life and offers fascinating peeks into peoples' lives. There are short essays that begin each section, including one by Alain de Botton.

[Veronique]

I'm a convert too! Your description makes me want to run to the Habu store *now*...

[Lorie]

Yes, indeed, it's a totally eastern sense to knitting. I have both those books, and would love to pay/bribe some of my japanese friends to do some translation. I think the whole idea of unfussy knitting is so appealing. I think the number/chart system they use make a lot of sense. Looks lovely.

[Olga]

Jane, welcome to the club =)
This side is so different and I am a bit jealous because you are discovering it for yourself just now... it felt incredible for me too two years ago!

Happy knitting in a Habu land!

[Ava]

Can't wait to see your sweater. Habu is the most enticing yarn. You must try the stainless steel too.

[Lesley]

I've seen this Habu paper yarn in the local wool shop and am so intrigued. It looks amazing, and I can imagine the addictive quality of handling it and knitting with it — but what will it be like to wear? Will it soften up, or be noisy and scratchy, a little stiff?

[Amanda]

Beautiful! The Habu has spoken to me also and it really is experiential knitting - I'm just in love with the fabric and the more I knit, the more I love it. I'll be eager to see kit 21 all finished - you have a lovely start so far!

[muffin]

How do you make tail or head of this Habu - it's all in foreign.

[Shay]

I'm afraid that to me a Habu will always be the small, deadly but fortunately quite slow pit viper another Marine stepped on in the shower in our billet, years ago on Okinawa.

Perhaps it also has another meaning in Japanese (one hopes)?