Author: Anna

Silent Auction for Japan

Posted on by Anna

UPDATE 4 p.m. 3/17: The current high bid is $270.

Japan is very special to Mochimochi Land, and so John and I have been especially worried and heartbroken to see the terrible disasters that have continued to happen there in the past few days. We’re relieved that it seems our own friends there are all OK, but the tragedy is huge.

We wanted to do a little something to contribute to relief efforts and maybe bring some smiles in the process, so this week we’re holding a silent auction. Up for grabs is this one-of-a-kind knitted toy!

orangefactory1

This Tiny Thing Conversion Factory takes tiny trees and converts them into tiny lions. Because why not, right? I originally made it for the “Luv-able & Hug-able” plush show at gallery hanahou in 2009, and last year it caught Roger Ebert’s eye, who made it internet famous on Twitter for a day.

The piece measures about 13 inches long and 7 inches tall. It’s made of wool yarn and polyester stuffing.

We’ll start the bidding at $50. 100% of the proceeds from this auction will go to the American Red Cross for disaster relief in Japan.

To submit your bid, send an email to shop@mochimochiland.com with the subject “Japan Auction” and your bid in the body of the email. (We’ll update this post once a day with the current top bid.) The last day for bidding will be this Friday, March 18th.

Whether or not you participate in the silent auction, we encourage you to donate to the Red Cross if you can.

Our hearts are going out to Japan this week and beyond!

Seeing Stars

Posted on by Anna

What’s a knitted solar system without stars? Lots and lots of stars…

seeingstars

Being a star factory isn’t quite as fun as it might sound, but I’m hoping the finished effect will be worth the tedium. I can’t wait to arrange them into constellations.

In case anyone is wondering, I’m planning to release a star pattern a bit later on this year. For now, these guys are headed for my show in Berlin next month. 37 down, 13 to go!

Needle Felting with Moxie

Posted on by Anna

Last Thursday I was at the opening of the needle felting show at gallery hanahou. It was so cool!

I got to meet Hine Mizushima, one of my fiber art heros, for the first time. Here’s a quick iPhone pic I took of her section of the show:

needlefelt_hine

All of the pieces in the show were amazing and really different—here’s a look at the sculptural works of Kit Lane.

needlefelt_kitlane

Moxie was nice enough to squeeze me into her sold-out workshop on Saturday. I had never tried needle felting before, and it was so much fun! It’s really like working with clay in many ways. I gained a new appreciation for the incredible pieces that these artists create, and I went home with this little bug and a photo of me and Moxie:

needlefelt_moxie

(We’re standing in front of her neat-o pieces in the show, but you can’t really see them in the photo.) Moxie was an excellent teacher—if you ever have a chance to learn from her, I recommend it!

The needle felting show is up through the end of March at gallery hanahou‐check it out if you’re in NYC!

The Royal Pea

Posted on by Anna

Here’s a new one: Darcy modified the body of the Tiny Lion (from Tiny Things Collection 2) to make a royal pea!

tinylion_darcy

…as in The Princess and the Pea, for a fairy tale swap she did with other knitters. How fun!

I love this photo, and the tiny crown (Darcy’s own design) is adorable. I’m realizing that this is a fairy tale I haven’t thought about in a long time. Let’s hope this little pea doesn’t get squashed under a tower of mattresses anytime soon!

The Amazing Singing Tiny Tater Tot

Posted on by Anna

It turns out that our Tiny Tater Tot is quite the rock star! Look what I caught him singing the other day…

tinytatertot_singing

This ain’t a tater for the faint of hearted
No silent bite, cause it’s crunchy and salted.
I ain’t gonna be just a tater in the crowd
You’re gonna shout my goodness
as you eat me out loud….
It’s my life, it’s now or never
I ain’t gonna last forever
I just wanna make your taste buds sing.

Those rockin’ lyrics are courtesy of Diana K, the winner of this week’s caption contest!

Diana will get a PDF pattern from the Mochimochi Shop plus the new Tessellation Dinos cross-stitch pattern. Congrats!

I was super impressed by all the clever caption suggestions this time—here are a few honorable mentions:

PEEL?! I thought you said purl.
Wait a second, i’m guessing now we aren’t going to a BASH either.
by Joan

The tater tot thought and thought,
why did people want him hot?
The grisly truth was then revealed–
He was wanted as a meal!
by Amanda

No longer satisfied with being tucked away along with a few of his friends in a tiny section of a small plastic tray, tater tot dreamed of graduating out of grade school lunch and becoming an exchange student in high school, wanting to be known as a tater tot no more, but as a french fry tater teen.
by Gargoylegrl

My polkadotted cousins are speck tators, and my plain, russet cousins common taters. The kids at the circle cut fry place are rotaters. I may be a tater tot now, but when I grow up, I will be a computater, not some imitater!
by Shelba

Thank you to everyone who contributed!

Tiny Tater Tot

Posted on by Anna

Winning caption by Diana K:
This ain’t a tater for the faint of hearted
No silent bite, cause it’s crunchy and salted.
I ain’t gonna be just a tater in the crowd
You’re gonna shout my goodness
as you eat me out loud….
It’s my life, it’s now or never
I ain’t gonna last forever
I just wanna make your taste buds sing.

Last night I ate fancy tater tots while Bon Jovi sat at the next table. And it wasn’t even a dream! Just a New York evening. Now I’ve got rock anthems and fried potatoes on the mind…

tinytatertot

This little tot needs a cute caption, so please leave yours in the comments! (One per person, please.) The winner on Monday will get a free PDF pattern of their choice from the Mochimochi Shop PLUS the new Tessellation Dinos cross-stitch pattern. Caption away!

Tessellation Dinos Pattern is Here!

Posted on by Anna

Just unleashed these terrible lizards in the Mochimochi Shop!

tessellations_coming

The cross-stitch pattern comes with both a symbol chart and a color chart for easy reading. Good for geeks of all ages!

The PDF pattern is now available as a $5 download right here.

If you’re intrigued but have never cross-stitched before, check out my new beginner’s tutorial on the How To page.