I first came across Meri on Ravelry. Back then, I would spend night after night wandering through the “woods” of Ravelry, and one day I happened to find her there. The projects she was knitting were beautiful, so I sent her a friend request on Ravelry and later followed her on Twitter. If I remember correctly, she quickly followed me back. At first, we were nothing more than casual online followers, but that initial message from Meri eventually led us to become friends who could talk about knitting in person.
By the time of the 2011 earthquake, I had been teaching for almost two years. The 60,000-yen challenge was already behind me, and I was making a some income from teaching. Looking back at my blog entries from that time, I can see how my classes were gradually expanding as I gained more students. Alongside teaching, one idea was always on my mind: I wanted to publish a book. Not a pattern book, but a book showcasing knitting overseas.
Since I was mostly knitting patterns found on Ravelry, my desire to share overseas knitting with Japanese knitters grew stronger year by year, and I kept searching for ways to introduce its appeal. Of course, I was constantly writing on my blog, and people who shared that interest came to my classes, but ultimately, I felt the most impactful way was through publishing a book. So, I did what I always did: read books on the topic, attended talks whenever possible, and took steps toward making it happen. I even calculated the costs of self-publishing a small booklet, thinking I might be able to cover it myself, but it turned out to be too difficult financially. Still, my determination to publish a book never faded. As I kept sharing my enthusiasm with others, someone introduced me to an editor. I eagerly submitted a proposal, but unfortunately, I never received a response.
Frustrated with the situation, I could no longer bear to wait. I decided I would publish an e-book on my own, since that wouldn’t require as much upfront cost. I poured my passion into a blog post about this plan, and as soon as Meri read it, she sent me a message: “I’ll do it with you!” At that point, we had only met in person twice. But somehow, I immediately thought wanted to do it together with her. That’s how, in November 2011, amirisu was born.
I was lucky to have found a partner with experience in magazines, just when I was dreaming of publishing a book. However, at our very first meeting, when I suggested that the book was bilingual, I was completely taken aback. Suddenly, the whole project had grown much bigger than I imagined. That was the start of my whirlwind life.
Even now, I sometimes wonder why I was able to decide so quickly to do this together with Meri. For me, the biggest reason was that I loved her writing. I’ve always valued writing above all else, and I thought: If she can write the kind of blog posts I admire, then this will surely work. My instincts proved correct, but I had no idea how much else we actually had in common but at the time.
The first issue of amirisu was released in August 2012. We announced the call for designers in March, arranged photo shoots, Meri single-handedly built the website, and I created about 20 patterns in both Japanese and English, almost entirely on my own. We had no idea what we were getting into before we started the project. The workload was massive, and the level of international attention and expectations far exceeded anything we could have imagined. In the week leading up to the website launch, I essentially locked myself in at home, glued to the computer. It was the most stressful week of my entire life. When the work was finally done, I broke down and cried for the first time ever.
During the chaos of preparing the first issue of amirisu, I suddenly heard back from the editor I had once submitted my proposal to. They asked me to come to the company to present the idea. I had already given up hope, so I felt a bit nervous. There waiting for me were the editor-in-chief, the deputy editor, and the editor in charge. At last, the moment of truth had arrived: would I be able to publish a book?