I was a big collector of troll dolls when I was a kid in the early ’90s, so this photo from Amanda made my day!
Amanda did a simple mod on the Tiny Gnome pattern for her itty bitty troll. Sometimes the simplest concepts are the coolest!
Author: Anna
Save the Clowns
I hate to start off the week with a difficult topic, but it’s come to my attention that there is some anti-clown prejudice in Mochimochi Land. Just look at how desperately clumsy this clown has become because no one would laugh at him.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
I think the only way we can begin to heal the hurt is through education and dialog, but the clowns think they can win everyone over by performing tricks.
Let’s make this a safe space for clown hijinks.
Zephrbabe’s Tiny Napoleon
I never really thought of Napoleon Bonaparte as crush-worthy, but I’m swooning over this little guy knitted up by Zephrbabe!
She used the Tiny Gnome pattern as a starting place, then took it in a completely different direction with custom color changes and shaping, along with some perfectly placed embroidery.
And that hat? According to her Ravelry page, it’s the Tiny Sailboat turned upside down!
(Both the gnome and sailboat patterns can be found in Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi.)
He’s just the perfect historical figure for tiny mochi-fying, don’t you think?
It’s genius modifications like this that get me excited for our big photo contest coming up this fall. All you have to do to enter is add your photos of knits made from Mochimochi patterns in our Flickr group. Everything added to the group since last year’s contest is automatically entered in the next one! (You can see the details from last year’s contest here.)
For those of you in the US, enjoy the long weekend!
Cute as a…
Look what adorableness came in the mail yesterday!
Starting this week, all orders of physical goods (books, kits, and hand-knitted tiny mochis) from the Mochimochi Shop will now come with a gnome button! I should probably say “while supplies last,” but I got a whooole bunch of these guys, so I expect them to last quite a while.
I’d been wanting to include little gifts with mailed packages for a while, without finding just the right thing, when it finally occurred to me that I could have something special made just for Mochimochi Land. So much more fun!
Speaking of shipping, I’ll be out of town for a couple of weeks starting Monday for some exciting photo shoots with my favorite book photographer. So all physical goods (again, that’s books, kits, and hand-knitted mochis) purchased between September 3rd and 18th will be shipped on the 19th. This won’t affect PDF pattern purchases at all.
I’ll try to take some fun-but-non-spoiler photos during the shoots and share them here on the blog!
Pictoplasma Talk in NYC this November
Big news: the character art curators of Pictoplasma have invited me to speak at their NYC conference this November!
Last year I had the honor of being part of the Pictoplasma “character walk” gallery series with shows in Berlin and NYC, and they also featured my work in their new Character Compendium. But it was still a surprise to be asked to present my work on a stage shared by artists I admire so much, like Ryan Quincy, Julia Pott, and Gemma Correll. I’m so excited and nervous and it’s still two months away!
You can read all about the NYC conference on the Pictoplasma website—there’s an early bird offer on the conference pass if you buy it before September 15th. If you work in a creative field or you’re just a character enthusiast, you’ll want to check it out!
Super-Scary Mochimochi Preview: Toaster Ghost
What happens when you shove one too many frozen waffles into your rickety old toaster? You’ll end up with a big burned mess! Then once the smoke clears, you may find yourself confronted by…
Toaster Ghost!
It’s the next preview from my upcoming book of monster knits, Super-Scary Mochimochi! (And that awesome photo is by Brandi Simons, of course!)
I have a special love for anthropomorphic knitted appliances, so I made sure to find a way to fit an undead one among the creepy characters in this book. Toaster Ghost is an interactive toy, complete with slots that you can place burned pieces of toast in!
The pattern uses a number of techniques to get just the right shaping, and I think it’s a fun, challenging project for intermediate knitters.
Toaster Ghost would make a lovely companion piece to TV Guy from Knitting Mochimochi or even Flushie! Now I just need to design a knitted refrigerator, and you’ll never have to leave your craft room…
Super-Scary Mochimochi is now available for pre-order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Starting September 18th, it will be in local yarn stores throughout the US, and signed copies will be available from the Mochimochi Shop too.
One more Super-Scary preview is coming up in a couple weeks, so stay tuned!
Inspiration: APAK
It’s easy for me to point to things from my childhood that inspire my creativity now, because I’ve internalized them so much: Dr. Seuss, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Jim Henson movies, and the like. These artistic giants are such a big influence that they will always be with me. I find it a little harder to point to contemporary artists who inspire me, which has to do with a feeling I have that there are so many creative people out there, it would be an impossible task to discover them all. There is also a little negative comparison involved (I’ll never be as good as them), and also a kind of inspiration overload that I try to avoid (I’m talking about you, Pinterest).
These are feelings that I’m always working on, but sometimes I come across artists whose work is so enchanting and beautiful that my insecurities drop away, and I can just fall in love. One of those artists is APAK, a husband and wife team who together illustrate tiny worlds that I just want to jump into headfirst.
I first saw Aaron and Ayumi Piland’s work a few years back when I was working at gallery hanahou. I was immediately drawn in by their gentle scenes and the way that their adorable characters are dwarfed by the nature surrounding them.
Aaron and Ayumi been creating artwork together since 2005, and in addition to gallery shows, they do commercial projects and they sell prints and other products through their Etsy shop.
This one is available as a really affordable limited-edition print:
I really can’t choose a favorite piece by them, but I do find myself particularly charmed by their 3D work.
Are you in love yet? The serene wonder of the world they’ve created always speaks to me when I’m I’m feeling less than peaceful. It’s an uncomplicated love for me!
A Tiny Glimpse of Fall
As you’ve probably noticed if you’re a long-time reader of my blog, my “tiny challenge” has gone from a weekly feature to just an occasional one. (Two years of weekly Tinys was a pretty good run!) But making new tiny mochis a little less often means that I have a little more time to actually write up the patterns and get them out into the world.
So more tiny pattern collections are on the way, and I did a little photo shoot with the next batch yesterday. Here’s a peek!
It was surprisingly easy to find pretty yellow leaves in my neighborhood to serve as autumnal props. I really can’t wait for fall, especially since cooler weather means that my new book is coming out soon, and then this tiny fall collection is coming in October!