A wonderful and completely unexpected Christmas present! I swooned over it in Crate & Barrel forever ago, and my husband remembered.
A few somebodies have already taken it upon themselves to move in.
It’s great to start a new year with a beautiful new workspace!
Update: Wow I’ve already gotten over 20 responses! I think I’ll have to close the window on testing volunteers for now, but I’ll post again if I find that I’m in need of a few more. Thank you to those who responded—you’ll hear from me soon!
Interested in testing Mochimochi Land patterns? I have a lot of new projects that will need testing soon, and I’m looking for volunteers!
Testing involves trying out one my new patterns and letting me know if you run into any typos, questions, or problems, then showing me your results and sharing your overall thoughts on the pattern (while keeping everything hush-hush until the pattern is released). Compensation comes in the form of free patterns!
If you would like to be a tester, and you are 18 or older, please send an email with a couple of low-resolution photos of projects that you’ve knitted (toys are preferable) to info@mochimochiland.com. Space is limited, so the sooner you email me with your photos, the better. Prior testing experience is great, but not required.
For those of you who are already on my testers list, expect to hear from me soon!
The last day of the year came sooner than I expected!
It’s fun to think about new beginnings and adventures to come in the new year, whether or not the word “resolution” is involved. I for one am going to try to be more daring in the kitchen, trying out new recipes and ingredients more often. (I have pretty neutral feelings about cooking, so it seems worth a try.)
As for things knitting-related, I’m thinking about new patterns, of course, and maybe some more artsy-experimental stuff too. I’m also considering trying out PDF pattern sales through Ravelry. Before I start uploading, though, I would love to hear how people have found buying patterns through Ravelry, which I’m sure many of you have done. I would also love to hear from designers who sell their patterns through Ravelry—any problems with it or concerns? I would greatly appreciate comments left to this post, or you can also email me at info@mochimochiland.com.
Thanks in advance for your input, and Happy New Year!
I love this custom Mochimochi Elf made by cspooks!
He looks good enough to lick.
If you’ve made a Mochimochi Elf or any other toy from one of my patterns, please share it with everyone in the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group!
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been thinking a bit about creating my own cross stitch designs. I don’t know if it’s something I’ll get around to anytime soon, but I’m inspired by these charming samplers that my mother-in-law Bonney made back in the ’90s, substituting their original wording with her own favorite sayings.
And this was way before Subversive Cross Stitch, of course. I like the way that they look so quaint at first glance, but take another look and you get the joke. Even with the humorous words, it’s obvious that Bonney put a lot of time into them and they are something that her family will always treasure.
I usually go into Christmas with a little trepidation, but emerge on the other side with much joy. That’s more or less what happened this year.
Now that most of the organized festivities are over, I’ve been catching up on some online happenings, and I noticed that Lime & Violet gave my Mochimochi Elves gift tags a mention yesterday on their blog. So nice!
If you used the tags, I would love to hear about it (even if your recipient was puzzled by the strange creatures on their gift). I don’t know how many people downloaded them, so it would be neat to get some kind of feedback.
I’ll likely be internet-free over the next couple of days. Enjoy those holiday leftovers!
Botan Rice Candy is a delicious and mysterious treat. The yummy chewy orangey-flavored candy is a product of Japan, but I’ve only ever seen it Asian food stores in the US, and never in Japan. Also, the inside wrapper (but not the outside!) is made of rice and edible.
But my favorite thing about Botan Rice Candy has always been the funny sticker that is a free prize in each box. In the past, I’ve usually gotten an illustration of something generically charming, like an athlete of some kind or an animal. (See the examples printed on the box.) Lame, yes, but in a cute way.
I’m extremely disappointed in the sticker prizes I received today in my two boxes of Botan Rice Candy from the Sunrise Market in Soho.
????
I am at a loss as to what to do with these stickers. My husband thinks they’re awesome, of course. Anyway, Merry Christmas!
You might not know it from following my blog, but I have been knitting toys nonstop over the past year, and I now have a big stockpile of new toys. I have plans for most of them and there are reasons that I haven’t posted them on the blog, but there are a few that I have no immediate plans for, and it seems like kind of a waste to not at least give them their one minute 13 seconds of fame (the average time people spend on my website, according to Google Analytics). Like this little campfire here.
I think I lost my draft of the pattern for it when my hard drive crashed back in August, but I could probably recreate it at some point. Aside from Campfire kids and serious campers, though, who wants a knitted campfire? Maybe I should introduce him to a marshmallow.