How cute is this Rilakkuma glasses holder that John got me in Japan?!
I have good news for you nerd-Rilakkuma-loving knitters: I have another one of these guys who will go to the first-place winner of the Mochimochi Photo Contest!
Author: Anna
November 4: Knitting Mochimochi Talk at Loops, Tulsa
If you’re in the Tulsa area, please join me on November 4th at Loops (the Utica Square location) for a talk! I’ll be there at 6-8 pm with the whole knitted cast from my book Knitting Mochimochi, and I’ll discuss how I came up with the designs, some toy knitting tips, and anything else you want to talk about. Brandi Simons, the local photographer who took all the photos from the book in the Tulsa area, will also be there.
There will also be a book and yarn giveaway, so mark your calendar!
Free Pattern: Candy Corn
This is a free and easy pattern for everyone to enjoy. Please check out the Mochimochi Shop for more patterns that you’ll love!
Halloween is sneaking up fast like a silly little ghost! Get ready for it with a zero calorie, zero stress knit: by popular demand, here’s the pattern for Tiny Candy Corn! Continue reading “Free Pattern: Candy Corn”
Announcing the 2010 Mochimochi Photo Contest!
Needles ready? It’s now officially time to enter the 4th annual Mochimochi Photo Contest!
Once again, we’re looking for the cutest, funniest, most interesting photos of Mochimochi Land toys. All you have to do to enter is upload your photo(s) to the Mochimochi Friends group on Flickr by November 15th.
Winners will receive cute goodies from Japan and gift certificates from Mochimochi Land and Knit Picks, who are again generously sponsoring!
Eligibility
To be eligible, your photo must contain at least one knitted toy made from a Mochimochi Land pattern. This can be a pattern from the Mochimochi Shop, a pattern from Knitting Mochimochi, or one of the free patterns on the Mochimochi Blog. The pattern may be modified, but not beyond recognition from the original design.
How to enter
Simply upload your photo(s) to the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group. If you don’t have a Flickr account, it is free and easy to register (though we recommend signing up as soon as possible, because it takes a little time for your account to be approved for sharing photos in a group). You can upload as many photos as you want, within reason.
(All photos uploaded since the deadline of the 2009 photo contest last year are already entered in this year’s contest!)
Deadline
The last day to enter the contest is November 15th, 2010. We’ll announce the semi-finalists shortly thereafter here on the blog, then everyone will be able to vote for their favorites! So be sure to check the blog in November.
Prizes!
First place prize will be a bunch of cute goodies from Japan, a $25 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop, and a $50 gift certificate to Knit Picks (thank you Knit Picks!).
Second place prize will be a handful of cute goodies from Japan, a $15 gift certificate to Mochimochi Land, and a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks.
Third place prize will be a $10 gift certificate to Mochimochi Land and a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks.
So get those needles clicking and those cameras snapping!
Tiny Candy Corn
The first candy corn of the season is always exciting! These guys were part of my show that opened last night, and the real thing (which is pretty much equivalent size) were served as refreshments.
No official caption contest this weekend, but let’s resume it next week!
An Incredible Opening Night!
Last night was just amazing. The opening went better than I could have imagined, with a fantastic crowd of good friends and other generally awesome people.
Thank you to everyone who came out! Thank you especially to everyone at gallery hanahou for making it happen: Koko, Azusa, Erika, Gabe, and Laura. And Cascade for supplying allll of the yarn that went into this installation!
I was thrilled that the show got some some great press, too!
CRAFT
Trust Your Style
Mr X Stitch
Pattern Pulp
The Village Voice
and others.
My installation will be up at gallery hanahou in NYC through October 29th, and more photos will appear here soon!
Show Setup, Day 3: Almost there!
It was a full day of stitching my installation together today, and I think it’s really looking like something now! It’s amazing what a difference a bunch of mattress stitch and backstitch makes to pull things together and add cohesion. No photos today—my hands were too busy!
Well, just for fun, here’s one photo that I took a while back when I was doing the shoot for the invite.
The opening is tomorrow night (or tonight, if you’re reading this on Thursday)—I can’t wait! If you’re in the NYC area, please join me 7-9 pm at gallery hanahou in Soho. Then the show will be up until the end of the month. (The gallery hours are limited to weekdays noon to 6 pm.)
If you’re nowhere near the NYC area but are instead closer to Seattle, be sure to check out “Plush You!,” which is opening this Friday (5-9 pm) at Schmancy and other venues! I don’t have any work in that show this year, but there will be tons of amazing plushes from all kinds of plush makers.
Show Setup Day 2: The Big Stitch
Two more days until my show opens! That means that the knitting part is basically over (a relief), and I’m up to my knees in stitching things together. To save time at setup, I came with many larger pieces of the installation already assembled, but now it’s time to attach all of those to the ground and sew on all the extra little bits that will hopefully make the whole thing interesting.
I started with the river—here it is halfway stitched on.
The difficult part about the assembly isn’t so much all the stitching, but it’s the leaning way out over the table to sew on the stuff in the middle. All this back-bending backstitch isn’t my favorite thing, but I’m sure I can endure a couple of more days of it.
Tomorrow will bring more stitching, and then something needs to go on those white gallery walls too…