Let's make happy
Knitted Things
Give School a Hug
Sep 1st
Kristen Rask just sent me photos of my window display at her store!
Schmancy is a super-fun vinyl and plush toy store in downtown Seattle, and I was thrilled when Kristen asked me if I would make something for their window.
As I mentioned previously, I used the Petite Pencil pattern from Knitting Mochimochi in bulky yarn to make the pencils, and I love how they came out so huggable. The piece of paper was a bit of a challenge to design, and the hardest thing was coming up with what the paper would say. I got to thinking about how schools and teachers are dealing with increasingly tighter budgets and demands to do more with less, so I figured school could use a hug!
If you’re in Seattle, I hope you’ll swing by Schmancy in the next few weeks and see it in person.
A big thank-you to Kristen for inviting me to do this and for rigging up the display!
Jumbo Petite Pencil
Aug 23rd
This time of summer makes me a little nostalgic for the start of the school year. It was always such a thrilling mix of dread and excitement and new school supplies. With that in mind, I recently thought to see just how big I could get Petite Pencil (one of the mini designs from my 2010 book Knitting Mochimochi) to be using really thick yarn.
Pretty big, right? Don’t ask why he’s trying to write on my laptop—I guess he’s not that sharp…
I used a combination of Hometown USA and Wool-Ease Thick & Quick yarns by Lion Brand. After so much tiny knitting, it’s really fun to pick up some size 10-1/2 needles and make something hefty in an hour or so. The pattern is the same as the itty-bitty guy in the book, except I added a couple more rows to the yellow part of the pencil.
I just shipped off my Jumbo No. 2 along with a few other guys to Schmancy in Seattle, where they will be a window display for next month. I’ll share pics of that when I have them!
Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi Preview: Tiny Monkeys
Aug 11th
How fun is Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi? More fun than this!
Tiny Monkeys are one of seven Tiny Animal patterns in the book. I made these guys using a few different shades of Knit Picks Palette yarn. Would you believe that with just one skein, you can knit 40 Tiny Monkeys? It’s true! Perfect party favors for your next jungle-themed birthday celebration.
You can pre-order Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Then on August 16th, you’ll be able to find it in many local yarn stores, and signed copies will be available in the Mochimochi Shop!
Even Tiny Traffic Cones can be Vain
Aug 8th
Being a traffic cone must be tough, and the life of a Tiny Traffic Cone would have to be even harder! Despite all the abuse he gets in his work zone world, however, Tiny Traffic Cone is still concerned with keeping up appearances.
Does this stripe make me look fat??
That cute caption was submitted by Emi! For her caption, Emi wins a free pattern for Stackable Cats. Yay!
Thank you all for your many great captions!
Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi Preview: Tiny Computer
Aug 4th
I’m so excited to finally share some previews of my new book, Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi, which is coming out August 16th!
The first project I want to feature is one of my favorite inanimate tiny mochis, Tiny Computer.
He and his mouse haven’t spoken to each other since 1998, when the mouse mentioned something about a system upgrade.
Tiny Computer is one of the more complex projects in the book, but that’s actually not saying much when everything is about an inch tall—Tinys are all about simplicity. It’s knitted in three pieces, monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and then stitched together. Seaming takes only about a minute, of course! I think most knitters could probably finish the project in under three hours, with fast knitters coming in at under an hour.
I snapped this picture of my photographer Brandi Simons at work during our Tiny Computer shoot. It was fun coming up with simple props to show the scale of the tiny knits, and Brandi just happened to have the perfect mouse to go with our slightly outdated-looking PC.
I think Tiny Computer would make an excellent desk trinket or ornament for your favorite computer geek!
You can pre-order Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Then on August 16th, you’ll be able to find it in many local yarn stores, and signed copies will be available in the Mochimochi Shop.
Stay tuned for more previews!
