I'm Happy

The poncho arrived safe and sound in North Carolina last Tuesday. My sister texted me the following:

"Guess what came today while I was at work and they opened it. Doesn't it look great?! She won't take it off. :-)"

I couldn't be happier that my niece is so happy with it. The next day (Christmas Eve) my sister sent me another text:

"Thank you so much for the Christmas gifts! Aubrey still won't take off the poncho....Here we are outside the restaurant we are eating at tonight. Note the poncho!"

Honestly, there is nothing that makes me happier than when someone uses the thing I made for them.  Could be as simple as a dishcloth, but it is really so validating that the effort was worthwhile!

Love, Love, Love

If loving this 1985 cabled-icicle intarsia pullover sweater is wrong, then I don't want to be right.

I'd seriously knit this and wear it in a heartbeat.  The good news is that there are a few copies of the Vogue Knitting International magazine's Fall/Winter 1985 edition to be had out there. There are 2 on ebay and even a couple in the Amazon Marketplace.


Someone in a Facebook group tipped me off to this wonderful book:

 Miyoko Ihara: Misao the Big Mama and Fukumaru the Cat

So basically this elderly Japanese woman (Misao) in took in a stray Japanese Bobcat (she named him Fukumaru) and this book is a photographic journal of their lives together. It's the most, lovely, endearing, poignant series of photos I've seen in a long time. Misao's granddaughter is the photographer. The depth and meaningfulness of their relationship come through so beautifully in these photos.  Here are few of my favorites:

 

Poncho is DONE! Mailed it off yesterday with the rest of the Christmas gifts for my sister and her family.  Fi-Fi was sad to see it go: