Totoros are shy forest spirits portrayed in My Neighbor Totoro, a charming animated film by Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. In that movie there are two smaller totoros: one plain with no markings, the other with a big belly and a predilection for acorns. This lace picture of them can be adapted to your own projects, using your own yarn and gauge.

I originally designed this lace for a high school knitting class. It let my students learn how to read a lace chart and practice a variety of stitch techniques. Consequently, you might find it less ‘knitterly’ than many other laces. It has a higher ratio of plain stockinette, and involves many different chart symbols just because I wanted to throw them in there.