The Sisterhood of the Magical Sweater

I love this sweater that my friend, Barbara, handknit for my first baby. It has been handed down since then to each of my daughters to wear on cold days. You would think it would be a tattered mess after four children, but it is as lovely and warm as the day I unwrapped it from its nest of tissue paper and ribbon. I'm convinced it possesses magical properties—the kind of magic found only in gifts made with painstaking care.

1. It endures. This sweater is now ten years old and has lost only one button in all that time. No holes. No unraveling. No pilling.

2. It is warm. The yarn is of such quality and the weave is so tight that this sweater can be worn as a jacket out in a brisk breeze.

3. It fits. And fits. And fits and fits! Not only has it fit four different little bodies, each girl has been able to wear it for a good two years! How can an article of clothing fit and look just right as a child grows and changes? It's magic, I tell you. Here's one girl wearing it at 12 months of age:

And the same girl wearing it at age two:

By the bye, see the purple sweater in the background of the photo on the stairs? That's the first piece my mother ever knit. And she knit it for her first baby: me! Which makes that particular sweater extra magical because it is over thirty twenty years old and the original zipper still works beautifully, the silky lining is still perfectly intact, and those little poodles are still adorable. That sweater was knit with magic all right . . . the magic of love.

Dinner last night: almond chicken over rice