snuffykin's journal

I've been looking at a couple of crochet patterns that are in Japanese, from the Gosyo yarn company website. Their hooks have a different sizing system than US hook sizes. The first chart is a translation of recommended Japanese hooks for different weights of yarn. The second chart translates hook sizing in relation to US sizing.

Translated from Japanese Gosyo yarn company site.

Reference: ABCs of Japanese Knitting. The ABCs charts show translation of Japanese to English for yarn weights, fiber types, numerals, and knitting needle sizes. Very useful. Another useful site is Needleartsbookshop.com, where you find a document for interpreting Japanese Knitting Patterns. Terms like gauge, times, rows, & stitches are interpreted, and there is a list of resources.

Recommended crochet hook sizes for yarn weights
	crochet hooks (in Japanese sizes)
weight	3/0	4/0	5/0	6/0	7/0	8/0	10/0	7mm	8mm	10mm
2-ply lace	•
3-ply	•	•
4-ply finger	•	•
sport		•	•
sport/dk			•	•	•
dk						•	•
bulky								•	•	•

There's a note here that most of the patterns on the Gosyo site use the aluminum hooks sizing.

Japanese crochet hook sizes & diameter
US size approx.	Letter		B	B/C	C/D	E	G	H	J		L	N
US size approx.	Thickness		2.25mm	2.25mm 2.75mm	2.75mm 3.25mm	3.5mm	4.0mm	5.0mm	6.0mm		8.0mm	10.0mm
US steel	No.	4/3	2	1	0	00
US steel	Thickness	2.0mm 2.1mm	2.25mm	2.75mm	3.25mm	3.5mm
UK size	No.	14	14/13	13	11	9	8	6	4	2	0	000
UK size	Thickness	2.0mm	2.0mm 2.5mm	2.5mm	3.0mm	3.5mm	4.0mm	5.0mm	6.0mm	7.0mm	8.0mm	10.0mm
aluminum international standard	No.	2/0	3/0	4/0	5/0	6/0	7/0	8/0	10/0	7mm	8mm	10mm
aluminum international standard	Thickness	2.0mm	2.3mm	2.5mm	3.0mm	3.5mm	4.0mm	5.0mm	6.0mm	7.0mm	8.0mm	10.0mm
bamboo Japanese standard	No.	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	10
bamboo Japanese standard	Thickness	2.7mm	3.0mm	3.3mm	3.6mm	3.9mm	4.2mm	4.5mm	5.1mm

updated 10/18/08

Tags: crochet, crochet tutorial

( 10 comments — Leave a comment )

arisuinthewired

2007-12-23 03:10 am (UTC)

Thank you so much for posting this! This is like the Rosetta Stone for me. I've been trying to puzzle this out for months. Thank you!

snuffykin

2007-12-23 07:57 pm (UTC)

Glad you find it useful. I've been working on puzzling out several patterns. Here's another site that is helpful. It is a downloadable document on interpreting Japanese Knitting Patterns. It includes the translation for gauge, yarn fiber types, and other useful terms.

http://www.needleartsbookshop.com/Japanese_Knitting_Books.html

celpjefscycle

(Anonymous)

2008-01-12 12:04 am (UTC)

Thanks for information.
many interesting things
Celpjefscylc

mysticrecord

2008-02-17 03:26 am (UTC)

This has been incredibly helpful. Thank you for posting it!

Japanese Sizing

2008-07-28 09:58 pm (UTC)

Ditto to all that was said. Short of buying all the Clover hooks in the japanese sizing (I have two) LOL! Thank you so much.

Loretta

tephralynn

2008-10-18 03:55 pm (UTC)

Found your journal through a link for your fsc tutorial, hi. :)

For the 2/0 hook the US steel hook #4 is a match (2.0mm).

And since I'm commenting anyway, US steel #2 matches US aluminum B, #1 matches C, #0 D, and #00 E. Also, for anyone having trouble with gauge between 2/0 and 3/0 a US steel #3 (2.1mm) may be of assistance.