You’ve Got to See Japan’s Awesome Stamp Story, 12 Years in the Making

As you probably know, Japan traditionally uses a zodiac calendar in which each year is represented by an animal, and the animals repeat every 12 years. One of the traditions that goes with marking the new year is sending new year’s cards, or nengajo, which include a stamp that commemorates the animal of the year, according to the blog Spoon & Tamago.

This coming year happens to be the year of the sheep, and the designer of this year’s stamp, Ayaka Hoshino, also happens to be the person who designed the stamp 12 years ago. Whether it’s coincidence or serendipity I don’t really care, because the results are awesome.

Back in 2003 the sheep was working on a knitting project, and now it’s done!

I know we’ve all felt like we had projects that lasted 12 years. Maybe there’s a UFO in your pile that old.

Perhaps in honor of the sheep, 2015 should be the year of finishing projects. What do you think?

[Photo via Spoon & Tamago.]

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Magical Woodland Knits by Clare Garland is a few years old as I write this, but it’s such a fun book I couldn’t resist sharing it. Step into a magical forest full of realistic woodland creatures including rabbit, deer and squirrel, birds and mice, to name a few.

In all there are 12 creatures, and though they are rather small (the wolf is the largest at 14.5 inches/37 cm tall and 18.5 inches/47 cm long), they are so detailed these are definitely not projects for new knitters.

One of the smaller projects, for example, is the robin, at 5/5 inches/14 cm long. It calls for nine different kinds of yarn. Sometimes some are held together, while others are worked with on their own. This pattern only includes three pages of instructions, but the print is rather small and in that time there are six different sets of short rows. None of this makes it too difficult for a knitter with experience reading detailed patterns, working short rows and working with multiple strands of yarn at once, but it’s worth knowing going in that even for small projects you’ll need a lot of supplies and time to work on them.

These are also not meant to be children’s toys, as they can include wires and other supports that could be a danger to little ones.

The process photos often look like taxidermy on a tiny scale, with little animal pelts stretched out and tons of stitch markers showing where and how things go together.

The finished animals are so pretty it’s certainly worth the effort to stitch up these creatures. You might be tempted to make all 12 and set up your own forest scene or use them to decorate your Christmas tree. You can check out all the patterns on Ravelry.

Along the way you’ll also find a little folklore about the animals, charming drawings and pretty photos of the finished animals, too. In the back you’ll find some helpful techniques like picking up stitches, making I-cord and working short rows.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 12 patterns. Published 2020 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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Have you read?