“This fluffy sheep has been knitting the same scarf for 12 years!”

Which part of that sentence do you find hardest to believe? Hopefully the part about sheep knitting! But it’s true. The cartoon sheep on Japan’s New Year stamps is a real knitting enthusiast. In 2003, the New Year stamp showed a sheep beginning a knitting project. On the 2015 stamp, the sheep proudly wears its creation. It’s a big, cuddly scarf.

Sometimes people in Japan send hundreds of New Year cards at a time. The cards show the animal of the year, which is determined by the Asian zodiac. There are twelve animals in the zodiac, including the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, snake, and sheep. The sheep is the animal for 2015. According to the zodiac, that means we will have a year of peace.
Have you seen zodiac symbols? They are often printed on placemats at Asian restaurants. Like fortune cookies, they make for fun dinnertime conversation. But they aren’t something you should trust in. God, not the zodiac, decides what happens during a year.

How old will you be in 2027? That’s when the sheep will be back on the stamp. What do you think it will knit then?