April is Grilled Cheese Month, and food company Arla asked me to create an animation celebrating the love of a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of tomato soup. This project made me so hungry!
Thanks to Maureen Boyle for animation help and William Steffey for music.
If you find yourself chasing a pot of gold around, it’s time for a drink of water.
Please watch my husband on TV tonight! John is hosting the new show The A.V. Club, airing Thursdays at 9pm on Fusion. It’s a smart show for pop culture lovers like you! I’m so excited I just had to knit something.
Every time I spend a weekend at Vogue Knitting LIVE or any other event, a question I frequently get is Which of your patterns would you recommend for a total beginner? Up until now, my reply has been lengthy explanation about what kind of basic knitting project to try first, then what kind of circular pattern to try next, THEN a new knitter might be ready to tackle a Mochimochi Land project.
But now I have a better answer!
I’m so excited to introduce my new series of Starter Mochis, beginner-friendly Mochimochi Land patterns that come with instructions for both flat and circular knitting.
While these aren’t appropriate for TOTAL beginners, if you know the basic stitches—knit and purl, plus increase and decrease stitches—the Starter Gnome, Starter Hedgehog, and Starter Unicorn are totally doable for you!
Worsted-weight yarn is recommended for pocket-size mochis (and that’s what comes with the kits), but you can scale them up or down as you like.
Grab a kit and needles so that you’re all set with materials, or if you’re well stocked but finding it hard to choose just one project, the PDF collection gets you three patterns for the price of two!
I hope that these projects help more new knitters give toys a try, and maybe even jumpstart a (very positive) addiction.
The results are in! We are excited to announce the winners of the 10th Annual Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest!
First, let me say thank you once again to everyone who participated with your very creative entries. Mochimochi Land is really a real place because of all the knitting and enthusiasm that you share!
Big thank-yous also go to all of our wonderful sponsors this year.
Our longtime super-sponsor Knit Picks is providing exciting surprise prize packages to our winners. What could be included??? Knit Picks carries all sorts of wonderful stuff, including yarn, needles, patterns, kits, and knitting notions and tools that you didn’t even know existed.
Knit Picks Palette yarn, one of my personal favorites.
Knitwear designer SpillyJane (who I interviewed here) is sending all six winners this delectable collection of PDF patterns from her Ravelry store:
And knitwear designer Angela Tong (who I interviewed here) is also sending all six winners this beautiful collection of PDF patterns from her Ravelry store:
Plus! My mother-in-law, Bonney Teti (who I video-interviewed here) has contributed a collection of vintage and not-so-vintage patterns, books, and kits from her World’s Biggest Yarn Stash to be divvied out to the winners:
Thanks to these generous friends we’ve got the best and biggest prizes ever this year!
So without further ado, here are your winners in the photo category.
It was a close race for third place, but in the end it went to the oh-so-clever Deep Sea Shadow Box by Huey Li.
Well done Huey! You win a $50 surprise gift package from Knit Picks, patterns from SpillyJane and Angela Tong, goodies from Bonney Teti’s World’s Biggest Yarn Stash, and a $20 gift card to Mochimochi Land.
In second place is the very zen Sweet Yoga by Wooly Brain (aka Denise).
Yay Denise! You win a $75 gift package from Knit Picks, patterns from SpillyJane and Angela Tong, goodies from Bonney’s World’s Biggest Yarn Stash, and a $20 gift card to Mochimochi Land.
And first place in the photo category goes to the stunning rainbow of Tiny Hedgehogs by The Bon (aka Bonnie).
Congratulations, Bonnie! You win a $100 gift package from Knit Picks, patterns from SpillyJane and Angela Tong, goodies from Bonney’s stash, and a $20 gift card to Mochimochi Land.
Now for our video category winners!
Again we had a tight race for the second and third place winners. In third place is the very current Mochimochi Land Mannequin Challenge by Juleenbean.
Nice job, Juleen! You win patterns from SpillyJane and Angela Tong, goodies from Bonney’s World’s Biggest Yarn Stash, and four tiny kits from the Mochimochi Shop.
In second place is the tragicomic How Snowy Lost his Nose by Toomanycupcakes (aka Sara).
Beautiful, Sara! You win patterns from SpillyJane and Angela Tong, goodies from Bonney’s stash, and four tiny kits from the Mochimochi Shop.
And last but certainly not least, first place in the video category goes to the epic saga The Witch and the Dog by Lais.
Amazing, Lais! You win a $100 gift package from Knit Picks, patterns from SpillyJane and Angela Tong, goodies from Bonney’s stash, and six tiny kits from the Mochimochi Shop.
Congratulations to these most creative knitters! And that wraps up the 10th Annual Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest—thank you again to Knit Picks, SpillyJane, Angela Tong, Bonney Teti, and all who participated with entries and voting.
Update: The poll is now closed. Thank you for your votes! Results coming soon!
For the third year in a row, we had a video category in the Mochimochi Photo Contest. Making a video is way more involved than taking a still photo, but the reward is more storytelling and the magic of seeing your mochis come to life.
This year we had six great entries, so we’re also holding a video vote! First, watch the embedded videos below, then please vote for your favorite (or favorites!) using the ballot at the bottom of this post. We’ll leave the poll open through Sunday, January 22nd.
Good luck to these creative knitter-animators!
Update: The poll is now closed. Thank you for your votes! Results coming soon!
Here it is, your ballot for the 10th Annual Photo Contest! We’ll leave the poll open through Sunday, January 22nd. Please vote only once time (although you can vote for as many photos as you like).
Good luck to these creative knitters!
