Author: Anna

New Matryoshkats Kit is here!

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Cats, listen up! Our popular Matryoshkats pattern is now a Matryosh-kit! The deluxe kit makes TWO SETS of Matryoshkats, one in warm pinks and purples and one in cool blues and greens. đŸ©·đŸ’™

The seamless pattern is worked in the round on double-pointed needles in a delightfully simple way: each cat half is an un-stuffed ovoid shape that you’ll partially invert to make a hollow cup. You’ll pick up a small number of stitches to work the ears and tail.

The kit includes the pattern, a bit of polyester stuffing (for the innermost cat), and two arrays of wool yarn (Cascade 220, a favorite in Mochimochi Land). Just add size 5 needles and a tapestry needle!

The Matryoshkats Kit comes packaged in a 6-inch square kraft box, purfect for gifting or knitting on the go. 💝đŸ˜ș

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Woolly Woolly is now on YouTube!

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The Woollys are celebrating because we have big news!

You can now watch FULL EPISODES of Woolly Woolly on YouTube! WAHOO!

(Note that this is a new channel, different from the one I shared last year, available in the USA, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.)

Woolly Woolly is a children’s animated TV show based on my knitted world of Mochimochi Land! It’s about a family of gnomes who knit their way through life and solve problems using creativity and a little bit of make-believe magic. Everything is knitted in Woollywood, and the Woollys can knit everything!

The series is produced by PVP Media in Canada and Normaal in France with some of the best writers and animators around. And I was involved in the production process as a creative consultant. (A big contribution of mine was to repeat “That’s not how you hold knitting needles!” until they got it right 😉)

The show is computer animated in a beautiful, tactile stop-motion animation style. The director, Emmanuel Linderer, based the animation style in part on my stop-motion animations and GIFs, but took it to a brilliant new level that wows me every time I see it.

New episodes are added to the Woolly Woolly channel all the time, so if you subscribe you’ll see them pop up for you when they’re out.

Thanks for watching!

YarnCon is coming!

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Omelet is getting excited about YarnCon!

Don’t tell him, but I haven’t yet decided if he’s coming this year. 😬 But I CAN say that there will be a world of tiny knitted cats and dogs and dinosaurs there, along with plenty of kits, including hand-dyed tiny dinosaur kits that you can check out in person and choose by color combo.

Haven’t heard of Yarncon? It’s just the most fun and interesting yarn market in Chicago! It’s a great place to see what all the cool indie dyers are up to. And they let me unfurl Mochimochi Land there! AND it’s free to attend!

Visit Yarncon April 11-12 at the Chicago Plumbers Union Hall, 1340 W Washington Blvd. Check out the YarnCon website for more info. See you there!

The Gnome Genome Project was 10+ years ago!

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A couple of anniversaries slipped by me last year, so I wanted to take a moment to recognize them before I forgot about them entirely!

First up is The Gnome Genome Project, a 2015 solo show of my gnome-themed knitted work at Everyday Mooonday, a beautiful gallery in Seoul.

This show was a huge undertaking, and a dream of an opportunity to share my world with people on the other side of the globe—and it all happened thanks to gallery owner Diny Lee.

The Gnome Genome project had me mining my psyche for all associations with knitting and gnomes, and the end result comprised a classic tabletop vision of Mochimochi Land, giant gnomes with lilliputian climbers, a community gnome knitting and distribution project, various other gnome sculptures and experiments, and a loop of some of my stop-motion animations.

I was also newly pregnant while installing it (with lots of help from my husband, John). So the memories are a bit foggy, but I recall working very hard, being very unsure whether I could pull it all off, and feeling very happy when it all became real.

Perhaps you contributed gnomes to this project?

Happy Neigh Year

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Happy New Year!

How appropriate that 2026 is the year of the horse—we’re going to need the fortitude of a whole band of horses to power through. Let’s do this together!

The PDF pattern for these lucky little horses is now available here in my shop and on Ravelry. And we also have kits!

Techniques include I-cord for ears and legs and a tiny bit of mattress stitch to attach the muzzle. Videos will help you at key points along the way.

The Lunar New Year begins February 17th. This is the fifth installment in my series of Chinese zodiac animals. (You can find the others on my website as patterns and kits too.) I’ve personally got to make it through another year if only to knit the next one!

Drool Runnings pattern now FREE with purchase!

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It’s a Mochimochi Land holiday tradition: a brand-new holiday pattern, and it’s free with purchase!

For a limited time, spend $5 on anything in the Mochimochi Shop, use the code DROOL at checkout, and the new Drool Runnings pattern will appear in your cart, like holiday magic! (No need to add the pattern to your cart.)

The pattern is a PDF download that you can access immediately in your browser. A download link will also arrive by email.

Drool Runnings calls for fingering-weight yarn in 7-9 colors and a set of size 1 DPNs. You’ll also need a little polyester stuffing, a small tapestry needle, and two pipe cleaners that you’ll insert into the sled runners.

This little bit of holiday joy knits up in a day or two for quick gifting! At the original size, this project makes an adorable holiday toy (for kids 3 and older), ornament, or tabletop decor (just add fake snow!). You can also scale the whole thing up a bit by using thicker yarn and appropriately sized needles.

Also available as a kit that includes pattern, yarn, stuffing, and pipe cleaners!

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the idea for this pattern came from my dad, and I had so much fun creating the design. I hope these jolly dogs and their super sled will help make your holidays bright too!

My thanks to Marilyn Passmore for tech editing this pattern and to Kristine Brandel for test knitting.

The 2025 holiday kit is here!

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And it’s doggies!

I’m so excited to unveil this year’s Mochimochi Land holiday pattern: Drool Runnings!

These jolly doggies in their speedy sled were inspired by my dad’s stories of racing down any hill he and his siblings could find in their snowy Chicago suburb in the 1950s and ’60s.

For now, this pattern is available as a kit only (with the PDF download coming soon)—you get the pattern and all the yarn, stuffing, and pipe cleaners you need to knit a sled and two pups, Santa hats and all. You’ll need to supply a set of size 1 US (2.25mm) double-pointed needles and a tapestry needle.

Techniques include a few rounds of stranded colorwork, mattress stitch (for assembling the sled), and I-cord. Photos and demo videos will help you along at key points.

The entire project can be knitted up in a day or two, for a quick handmade gift. (And would make a very cute pairing with Short Dog, Long Dog!) Or the kit itself makes a sweet gift for your knitting friends who already have everything.

I wanted this year’s holiday pattern to be absolutely bursting with joy, so I hope that comes through!

Find the kit in the Mochimochi Shop.

Knit tiny crabs with meeeee!

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Knit tiny crabs with me in December!

I’m thrilled to be joining the lineup for Melissa Leapman’s newest virtual tour, Under the Sea!

It’ll be a weekend of aquatic-themed virtual workshops with fiber luminaries Xandy Peters, Franklin Habit, Romi Hill, Holli Yeoh, Safiyyah Talley, Keith Leonard, and Julie Dubreux. And me!

The tiny crabs are a pattern that last appeared in my 2015 book Adventures in Mochimochi Land. Since then, they’ve been waiting for another moment in the sun, and it’s here! The crabs are super quick to make, totally simple, and tons of fun. You’ll want to make so many! Sign up via Melissa Leapman’s website.