Year: 2008

Retailers of Mochimochi Land Kits

Posted on by Anna

These lovely retailers in the US and other countries stock Mochimochi Land kits and patterns. If one is in your area, check it out!

And if you’re a retailer interested in carrying Mochimochi kits or patterns, please email info@mochimochiland.com for wholesale information.

California

Black Squirrel Yarns
651 Addison St, Suite B
Berkeley, CA 94710

The Knitting Tree LA
6285 Bristol Pkwy
Culver City CA, 90230

Firebird Yarns
3122 Haight St
San Francisco, CA 94117

Atelier
10128 Donner Pass Road
Truckee, CA 96161

Colorado

Treelotta
3370 South Broadway
Englewood, CO 80113

Illinois

Cog Cycles and Yarns
3217 West Bryn Mawr Avenue
Chicago, IL 60659

Yarnify
47 W Polk St
Chicago, IL 60605

Indiana

Three Loves
138 S. Midland Blvd
Nampa, ID 83686

Maine

Mother of Purl Yarn Shop
541 US Route One
Freeport, ME 04032

Massachusetts

Gather Here
370 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139

Circle of Stitches
66 Wharf Street
Salem, MA

Hip Stitch
1276 Washington Street
Newton, MA

and
20 Church Street
Wellesley, MA

Michigan

Tink & The Frog
128 E. Maumee St.
Adrian, MI 49221

Plum Tree Yarn Shop
20 East Main Street
Milan, Michigan 48160

Knit-Picky & Hooked
15555 South Telegraph Rd Suite 8
Monroe, MI 48161

Ewe-nique Knits
515 S Lafayette Ave STE E
Royal Oak, MI 48067-2556

Minnesota

iTry Studios
522 Broadway St
Alexandria, MN 56308

Knit & Bolt
2833 Johnson Street NE
Minneapolis

Missouri
Yarn Social
Kansas City, MO

New Hampshire

Scratch Maker Space
18 Hanover Street
Lebanon, NH 03766

Smitten Yarn Co.
86 Wakefield Street
Rochester, NH 03867

New Mexico

Hacer Santa Fe
311 Montezuma Ave
Santa Fe, NM 87501

New Jersey
Yarnia
127 Watchung Ave
Montclair, NJ 07043

New York

Knitty City
208 W. 79th St.
New York, NY 10024

Purl Soho
459 Broome St
New York, NY 10013

North Carolina

Cheers To Ewe! Yarn Shop
9856 Gilead Road, E105
Huntersville, NC 28078
Phone: 704-706-9425

Ohio

Gwen Erin Natural Fibers
44 North Main Street
Hubbard, Ohio 44425

Oklahoma

Two Unravelled Chicks & a Llama
120 Thompson Dr.
Norman, OK 73069

Oregon

Cozy
285 E 5th Ave
Eugene, OR 97401

Pennsylvania

Stitch Your Art Out
235 E Pine Grove Rd
Pine Grove Mills, PA 16868

Tennessee

Chattanooga Yarn
304 Northgate Mall Drive, Chattanooga TN, 37415

Texas

Yarn Texas
1122 Morgan Ave
Corpus Christi, TX 78404

West 7th Wool
3612 West 7th Street
Fort Worth, TX 76107

Washington

Strikke
18728 Bothell Way NE, Ste B
Bothell, WA 98011

Ugly Baby
1430 Western Ave
Seattle, WA 98101

Wisconsin

Icon Fiber Arts
East River Square
590 Redbird Circle
De Pere, WI 54115

Fibre
121 W Wisconsin Ave
Neenah, WI

Something Quilty
24512 State Hwy 35 70
Siren, WI 54872

Spry Whimsy Fiber Arts
168 West Main Street
Stoughton, Wisconsin 53589

The Sow’s Ear
125 South Main Street
Verona, WI 53593

CANADA

La Maison Tricotée
751 rue Gilford
Montréal, Québec H2J 1N8

JAPAN
Eylul Yarns
1-28-25 Hannan-cho, Abeno-ku
Osaka-shi, Osaka 5450021

Bear Kacha Toy

Posted on by Anna

How about another dose of cuteness?

In Japan I picked up a miniature capsule toy machine, somewhat akin to the Frog Style toy that I blogged about a while ago. But this one is Rirakkuma!

bearkacha1

Some assembly is required, with stickers to decorate the outside of the machine and stickers to put on the inside of teeny tiny capsules (that actually open).

After assembly…

bearkacha2

I love the detail involved with this toy. It even comes with a tiny clip that you can use to attach two capsule machines together, as in a bank of machines that you often see.

Turn the crank and the capsules pop out!

bearkacha3

If you’re wondering where you can get this awesome toy, I have just one more, and you can WIN it by entering this year’s Mochimochi Photo Contest! I’ll be announcing all the details in early June (check out the details from last year’s contest here), but you can go ahead and start entering now by uploading your photos to the Mochimochi Friends Flickr pool.

Hello Kitty Edamame

Posted on by Anna

My friend Kana just came back from a visit to Yamagata prefecture in Japan. Apparently that region is known for its delicious edamame, so I got the cutest cell phone strap as a gift!

kittypeas

Peas have an extremely high cute factor to begin with, so Hello Kitty peas are off the charts! The little pod is just about one inch long.

Save the Merpeople

Posted on by Anna

Last year, husband John worked with the nonprofit organization Oceana to write and direct a humourous commercial about the plight of the merpeople, whose habitat and chances for a hot date are being destroyed by reckless overfishing. The idea was that the fake campaign would encourage people to get behind a real (and very important) cause.

The finished commercial and accompanying website are now online for all to see. (My friend Sarah Ries stars in it as the lovely-but-desperate “Merbachelorette.”)

If you like what you see, please visit the website to find out how you can help protect ocean life and ecosystems. The merpeople will thank you.

Lucky (or Splat?)

Posted on by Anna

Since I made it for the “Plush You” show at Schmancy last year, I’ve gotten a lot of inquiries about Squirrel-Infested Tree. I was happy to find that there was interest in a pattern, but since I made it as a one-of-a-kind toy, there is no pattern for it (and the toy has since been sold). But I love trees, especially less-than-happy trees, so I recently made another to be available as a pattern.

luckyorsplat

This is Lucky—or maybe Splat, I haven’t decided yet. He’s not having such a great day, but the birds tell him that to be pooped on is a sign of good luck. He’s not convinced.

Any preference on the name? Or if you have other name suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Good Stuff!

Posted on by Anna

I got an exciting newspaper clipping from my mom in the mail yesterday: recent police calls from my hometown newspaper! Mom had written “Good Stuff!” at the top, and had marked a full 17 of the calls in yellow highlighter to convey her enthusiasm for her fellow citizens’ less-than-shining moments.

My favorites:

grimreaper

10:55 a.m. — Reporting party advised that a subject was posing as a magazine salesman. Reporting party advised that the subject was asking questions such as do you have dogs in the house.

7:08 p.m. — Reparting party advised that two people came to his home looking for his son and said they were going to ‘take care of this’ at Red Robin

8:36 p.m. — Reporting party wants an officer to look at the bone that dog dug up.

12:52 a.m. — Police Department and Air Marshalls are training and air marshalls locked themselves out of their vehicle.

9:31 p.m. — Subject dressed as the Grim Reeper [sic] is chasing people around the parking lot.

Thanks for the laugh, Mom!

Grass En Français

Posted on by Anna

A landmark event just occurred in Mochimochi Land: a pattern has been translated into another language!

Christhalinette, a knitter in France, was inspired to make the pattern for Grass accessible to non-English-speaking French knitters. So she published a full translation on her blog!

christhalinette

The idea of translating my patterns into other languages actually hadn’t occurred to me much, but I love the thought of that many more people being able to make Grass. My three or so years of French in high school didn’t prepare me for reading knitting patterns in French, but I’m sure Christhalinette did a great job. Thank you Christhalinette!

I don’t know what it is about this particular pattern, but so far it has been altered for knitting in the round (unfortunately the blogger who did this shut down his blog, so if anyone wants to try again, please do!), modified for crochet, and translated into French. I can’t wait to see what’s next for it!