The Grateful Crane

Thanks everyone who purchased this pattern during its first three months - together, we raised over $90 for Doctors Without Borders/MSF UK! (50% of all pattern sales)
29 Apr - My introductory donation of £20 [blogged][1]
19 May - First donation $27/£16.72 [blogged][2]
1 Aug - Second donation $33/£20.11 [blogged][3]

There is a Japanese folktale, Tsuru no Ongaeshi (The Grateful Crane), which tells the story of a poor man who finds an injured crane. He takes the crane in and nurses it back to health. The next day, a beautiful woman appears at his door, whom he takes as his wife. The woman weaves beautiful cloth for him to sell, under the condition that he never watch her while she is weaving.

One day, the man's curiosity gets the better of him, and he looks into the weaving room - he sees the crane that he saved, weaving its own feathers into the beautiful cloth. When the crane sees that she is discovered, she flies away, leaving the man alone.

This shoulder shawl is in