A quick tutorial on grafting stitches together, a finishing technique that gives you an invisible flat seam.
* Note: I meant to say “purl OFF” when dealing with that very last stitch!
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See you at Vogue Knitting LIVE NYC in January!
Vogue knitting LIVE is returning to NYC in January 2025! I was excited to be asked to spread the word with the help of some animated skyscrapers. These little videos have been appearing on the Vogue Knitting social accounts and in their newsletters. With more to come!
I’ll also be teaching at this event! Here are the classes I’m offering:
🦄🌈✨ Tiny Toy Knitting Basics: Unicorns and Rainbows
In this class, we’ll knit a tiny unicorn together, covering all the techniques from start to finish: knitting on double-pointed needles, I-cord legs and horn, and embroidering a magical mane and tail. We’ll also go over how to use mattress stitch to shape knitted tubes into a little rainbow, so your unicorn can have a friend! This is a great class to start with if you’re new to knitting toys, tiny toys, or circular knitting. The simple unicorn body can also be turned into all sorts of four-legged creatures!
👨🏻👩🏽🤷♀️ Knit a Tiny You (or Anybody)
In this *all new* project-oriented class, we’ll start with a basic pattern for a 1”-3”-tall human, then go into all kinds of ways you can customize it to create individuals representing yourself, your friends, your favorite celebs and characters—anything that walks on two legs! Techniques that we’ll cover include I-cord and circular knitting, shaping through basic increase and decrease stitches, embroidery, color work, needle felting, and anything else that might come up through participants’ interests.
I’ll probably also be displaying my artwork and vending at the marketplace. It’s gonna be a big weekend!
Registration is now open at the Vogue Knitting website. See you there!
Yarnover classes in Minneapolis September 20-22
Who needs a tiny knitted kitty to massage?
I’m looking forward to bringing more of these tiny cats into the world this September at Yarnover! This is a weekend of classes, a marketplace, and more brought to us by The Minnesota Knitters’ Guild. 🧶
I’ll be teaching a tiny cat knitting class AND a toy design class too! Sign up for both, and you can knit a cat with me, then get ready to knit whatever kind of toy you can dream up. Registration for non guild members is now open ✨
🐈 What: Yarnover 2024 classes
🐈 When: September 20-22, 2024
🐈 Where: Crowne Plaza Minneapolis West
Moe information and registration on the Yarnover website!
A visit to Eylul in Osaka
We just returned from the absolute best family vacation in Japan!
You can see a little recap with lots of my photos in this Instagram reel. But I must make a special post about my visit to the lovely yarn store Eylul in Osaka, and its lovely owner, Yuri Kojima!
I met Yuri years back when she visited Vogue Knitting Live in NYC and stopped by my booth there. Since then she’s been carrying my kits in her Osaka store—my only retailer in Japan! It’s an honor to be featured in a yarn shop in the country where the art of amigurumi was born. 🥹
Yuri has been influential in my design work as well, encouraging me to keep up my series of new year animals and advising me on them, too! (It’s thanks to her suggestion that the Year of the Dragon kit comes with pompoms for the dragons to protect.)
Yuri and her colleague Koyuki welcomed me and my sister-in-law, Jenna, for an evening of tea with gourmet jellies, dinner at an okonomiyaki restaurant, and dessert at Mister Donut, home of the original Japanese donut. It was wonderful to get to know Yuri better and learn the story of how the idea for Eylul started when she asked herself, “would I be satisfied with my life if it were to end now?”
Of course before leaving we had to purchase some lovely Japanese yarn, including paper yarn and unique yarn that’s created from factory oddments.
This was such a fun and meaningful part of my trip to Japan. Thank you, Yuri!
Behind the scenes of Catside Up, Catside Down in Modern Daily Knitting
The Catside kitties are on Modern Daily Knitting today! I was thrilled when MDK invited me to write something about the making of Catside Up, Catside Down, and I loved the opportunity to revisit the process that went into the writing and the knitting that went into my book.
I’ve been a fan of MDK since way back, so it’s a special thrill to appear on their site after so many years 🤩
Thank you to Kay and Andrienne!
Mochimochi Land at H+H Americas
Mochimochi Land is headed to H+H Americas next week! This is an industry show for those involved in the business of handicrafts. I’ve attended in previous years, since it’s held in Chicago, but this is my first time as an exhibitor. I’m so excited!
If you’ll be there, be sure to pay a visit to Mochimochi Land at booth 1505 (all the way to the right once you walk into the exhibit hall). I’m bringing a world of knitted toys, plus a display of the cats from Catside Up, Catside Down. 😺
If you’re a local yarn store owner, you can learn about stocking Mochimochi Land kits and books 😀
I’ll also be on a panel about craft book publishing on Friday 5/3 at 12:15 on the main stage. 🤓
See you there, yarn industry friends!
Don’t make wars—make dinosaurs!
Just in time for dinosaur hatching season, the adorable Amy Apatosaurus is now available as a PDF pattern!
This Jurassic classic will melt your heart and stretch your knitting skills at the same time. You’ll curve her neck up with a little mattress stitch trick, then bend her head forward with a few wrap & turn short rows. Links to how-to videos are included to help you along the way.
Use any yarn you like (hand-dyed and variegated varieties are fun options) and corresponding needles for a pocket-sized dinosaur that knits up in an afternoon and will live forever in your heart. Samples shown are knit with fingering-weight WoolTribe Homegrown Sock yarn and size 1 double-pointed needles.
🦕 Now available from the Mochimochi Shop and Ravelry! Check out my bio for the links 🦕
The Amy pattern was originally released through the Knitrino app, which is a great place for tiny knitted dinos to be born. (Stay tuned for another new hatching there as well…😆)
You can see some adorable Amys already living their best lives over on Instagram—and tag your own Amy photos with #amyapato to join in! 🦕💕
Thank you to Marilyn Passmore for her tech editing help with this pattern!
Happy Year of the Dragon!
Huzzah! It’s a new tiny dragon pattern for this year of the dragon and your Lunar New Year celebrations!
Also available as a kit!
2024 may be full of daunting unknowns right now, but let’s embrace the spirit of the dragon and approach the coming months with boldness and curiosity and a bit of fire 🔥