Year: 2008

Thank You for Your Photos!

Posted on August 1, 2008 by Anna

The 2008 Mochimochi Photo Contest is now closed for entries. Thank you to all who participated! You gave John and me over 500 photos to sort though—can you believe that? We’re really excited to take a close look at them all.

Check back here soon to see Honorable Mentions, Semifinalists, and then the big vote!

And if you missed the deadline this year, feel free to keep uploading your photos to the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group. Everything uploaded starting now will be considered for next year’s contest.

The Bestest Barrettes

Posted on July 30, 2008 by Anna

When I wrote about the odd lots store Big Al’s earlier this month, I somehow left out the best part: the FREE STUFF.

Yes, the store that has it all also encourages you to take something home for free, even if you didn’t buy anything (though there’s a sign posted asking that you only take one free item per visit.) On my recent visit to Big Al’s, the free table (a free corner, really, comprised of three tables) was my lucky spot. After searching up and down the aisles of faux vintage canned goods, cow computer covers, and nautical candles for a good 30 minutes, I was ready to leave the store empty-handed. But I couldn’t leave without checking out the free stuff, and it was there that I found just what I was looking for!

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You know those barrettes you always see at the drug store in the shapes of bows, daisies, dragonflies, and other things little girls are made of? Big Al’s was giving away boxes of generic versions of these, all of them black! What’s more, these generics are flimsier than the kind you get in stores, making them less bulky and less prone to yank on your hair. I would seriously have paid up to ten dollars for a box of such wonderful barrettes. Instead I got them for free!

For the past month I’ve been wearing them constantly while trying not to lose them.

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Thank you Big Al’s! Definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in the area of Wiscasset, Maine.

REMINDER! Tomorrow (Thursday) night is the deadline for entries in the Mochimochi Photo Contest! Photos uploaded to the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group after July 31 will not be eligible for this contest, though they will be automatically in the running for next year’s contest.

Aren’t We Lucky?

Posted on July 27, 2008 by Anna

I had a few great testers help check the pattern for Lucky, and I can’t thank them enough! Two of them shared photos of their finished trees. Let’s take a look.

Tezzcan’s Lucky seems to embody more than one kind of luck: her little birds seem to have made a love connection.

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I love the pretty colors that Oiyi used for her Lucky.

(According to her blog, she used Caron Simply Soft.)

She also had her adorable dog Caesar model Lucky.

Caesar probably had no idea what was up with this strange little toy…

Thank you again to Oiyi and Tezzcan!!

Get Lucky!

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Anna

The pattern for Lucky is now available in the Mochimochi Shop!

This pattern is a quick knit with minimal seaming. Techniques include knitting in the round on double-pointed needles and mattress stitch.

Buy the pattern as a PDF download here!

Update: Thank you to Simply Knitting for featuring Mochimochi Land and Lucky on their blog!

Story of the Sweet Animals

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Anna

I haven’t been a huge collector of the plastic Japanese miniatures that seem to only be gaining in popularity—most often food, furniture, and the like— but my ever-savvy mother-in-law Bonney introduced me over the weekend to her new collection of “Story of the Sweet Animals” miniature animal scenes that she got from this website. They’re amazing! Each blind box contains at least two adorable plastic animals, some darling plastic props (water, mushrooms, tree), and a little card backdrop scene.

Apparently you can connect the cards together to make a complete story.

Bonney bought a box of 10, so we spent a while ripping them open like it was a Japanese miniature version of Christmas. Unfortunately for me, there were no duplicates for me to take home, so I may have to buy some for myself. After all, according to the website, “Not only are the fun toys, but they are perfect as home décor.”

Of course! These would go perfectly with that new couch we just got.

Blue and Yellow

Posted on July 21, 2008 by Anna

I love these two colors together.

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It’s something new I’m working on, something that is made up of a lot of different pieces. Anyone want to venture a guess? I’ll let you know if you’re right, but I might not be posting the finished piece for a little while…

Two More Weeks To Enter!

Posted on July 18, 2008 by Anna

You now have just under two more weeks to enter the Mochimochi Photo Contest! Have you entered yet?

We’ve already gotten some adorable and hilarious entries. I don’t want to single out any photos just yet, but you can see all of the entries so far at the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group:

Two weeks—by July 31—is plenty of time to knit up a Mochimochi Land toy, take a photo, and upload it to Flickr, so get started if you haven’t done these three things! There are fabulous prizes straight from Japan for first, second, and third place winners.

Check out all the contest details here, and see some of the aforementioned fabulous prizes here.

Voting will start in early August, so be sure to check back here then!

Big Al’s

Posted on July 14, 2008 by Anna

One of the highlights of picturesque Wiscasset, Maine, is Big Al’s, the giant odd lots store on the edge of town. Big Al’s doesn’t have everything, but it has everything else.

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The place isn’t as big as a Super Wal-Mart—it might not even be as big as most regular Wal-Marts—but its warehouse-size building is huge by Maine standards. (And I believe it existed before the L.L. Bean outlet in Freeport.)

Permit me to share some of my favorite finds at Big Al’s from my recent visit.

Thank goodness! They have scrubs.

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