Let’s knit toys
Marti, a tester for the Tiny Things Collection 1 patterns, went on a Tiny Elephant-making spree!
Maybe you noticed that one of these elephants is not like the others. It’s a small sheep made from this fun pattern by Flutterby Patch. (I also love the sleeping cat looming in the background.)
Thank you for the test, Marti!
Just like your mother said, he’s chock full of Vitamin A (for Adorable)!
Groundhog Day is right around the corner, people! I love these pics taken by Eskimimi of her Punk Phil made from my Godfrey pattern. Soon it will be officially time to start daydreaming about spring.
Eskimimi didn’t have any black yarn on hand, so she made her groundhog’s hat out of felt instead. Looks like that worked great!
After finding Eskimimi’s groundhog on Ravlery, I discovered that she is a talented designer herself. Check out her (really beautiful) blog!
I don’t know about you, but Valentine’s Day always sneaks up on me! That’s why I’ve never really come out with a love-themed pattern in time for the holiday. (I published my Hearts pattern on February 12th in 2007, and Luvgun debuted way out of season.)
This year will be different! Last week I got a sudden urge to do a super-cuddly pattern for this February, so I spent a few days frantically designing and knitting. It’s now being tested, and will be coming soon! Here’s a little peek.
Can you believe my mother-in-law has had a Gocco printer for YEARS and we only tried it out this weekend?
Figuring out how to use it was a snap—we just watched this tutorial video from Etsy. The hardest part was sitting around trying to come up with something to draw. That took… an embarrassingly long time.
Anyway, I finally settled on a mess of little rectangular monsters. (Bonney insisted on refraining from printing her own design for this trial run.)
(Apologies for the cell phone photos, btw.)
The Gocco contraption lets you burn your image onto a screen, then you paint the screen with ink and use the same contraption to press the ink through the screen onto paper.
I didn’t take any pictures during the screen-burning process (it was too nerve-racking!), but here is the printing process, as demonstrated by Bonney.
You can apparently make up to 50 or so prints with one inking!
Here’s a better view of the finished print on brown paper.
This was so much fun that it’s tempting to imagine getting my own and printing up tons of stationery. If only I wrote more notes!
I was recently contacted by a crafter who was interested in knitting up some hearts from my free pattern to sell in the Craft Hope for Haiti Etsy shop to raise money for disaster relief for the people of Haiti. This is of course a very worthy cause, and I was happy that someone thought of using my design as a way to contribute.
It looks like the Craft Hope for Haiti project has been so popular among sellers that they are taking a break from accepting new items for now. I know many of you are sellers at Etsy, though, and at other craft fairs. I encourage anyone to get in touch if you’d like to sell items made from any of my patterns to raise money for Haiti relief. Typically, all I ask is that you donate 100% of the profits to an established and vetted organization (I recommend the Red Cross) and that you include a Mochimochi Land credit on your item listing / pricetag.
Hearts in particular are great projects for all kinds of charity fundraising. The Children’s Society, a UK organization that benefits needy children, is currently using the pattern to raise funds with a project called The Big Stitch. I am happy to hear that word is spreading and the project is helping a lot of kids!
If you’d like to use my patterns to raise funds for Haiti earthquake victims or other worthy causes, I would love to hear from you! Just send me an email at info [at] mochimochiland.com.
He only shows his age when he uses his uncool prehistoric slang. (”That’s so extinct” = that is lame.)
Seastar198 suggested that I make a Tiny Dinosaur back in July, so she gets a free pattern!
How awesomely cute are these Tiny Corn and Tiny Toothpaste made by Oiyi?!
Oiyi tested the patterns for me, and she used worsted-weight yarn instead of the fingering-weight that I recommend in the pattern. So they turned out just slightly heftier—so fun! Check out her blog to see her Tiny Elephant and Tiny Violin.
Thank you to all the testers of these patterns: Oiyi, Marti, Rikke, and Dorien!
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