A few months ago I hinted that I was working on a big project for later this year. “Later this year” is quickly approaching, so it’s time to start saying more about it!

This October I’m going to have my first solo show at gallery hanahou in New York. A Mochimochi Land show is something I’ve entertained some vague thoughts about for a long time, so it’s like a dream that I hardly let myself dream come true. I’m incredibly thankful to Koko, the gallery curator and my boss, for believing enough in my work to let me have a show!

I thought for a long time about what a Mochimochi Land show would look like, and the idea that got me the most excited was a knitted installation, something big that would incorporate lots of little elements for maximum fun and silliness. Movement is something I’ve always been interested in incorporating into my knitting, so I had the idea to create the entire thing around a running model train.

I talked to the nice people at Cascade about my project, and they were generous enough to help out with the yarn for the entire thing. So I got started a few months back on making the ground out of various green shades of Cascade 128. I never knit anything bigger than an average-size toy, and this felt like making the biggest, heaviest blanket ever!

showprep1

(By the way, I am wearing shorts under all that yarn.)

As for the train, dad was just the person to ask about it—he happens to have a friend with a model train business! Ludwig at The Last Train Stop set me up with a model train from the 1950s that he thought would work best for my project.

We set it up at my parents’ house and got it to run.

showprep3

In the end the train will have a knitted covering and will be throughly anthropomorphic, of course.

After several months of knitting, I’m almost finished with the ground, and it seems to be the right size for a figure-eight course. Soupy recently inspected it and granted approval.

showprep2

Over the next two months I’ll be working on aaalll of the stuff and creatures that will populate the landscape—I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I think it’s going to be a ton of fun. I plan to post periodic updates about it all until the show opens on October 7th!

Share this post: