Author: Anna

Not Your Granny’s Walker

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Anna

Lorak on Ravelry got in touch recently with a project and story that made me smile.

Her friend Sadie is a rad 9-year-old girl living with cerebral palsy who uses a walker to get around. Sadie happens to be an inventor, and she tricked out her walker with a set of rotating wheels that allow her to climb curbs.

As a little gift for Sadie, Lorak mochi-fied her and gave her a walker using the pattern from my Tiny People 3 collection. Mochi Sadie doesn’t have wheels, but she’s super cool nonetheless!

Read more about Sadie in this Boston Globe article.

More Mochi Mod Characters!

Posted on July 22, 2016 by Anna

When I announced the recently-completed Mochi Mod Contest, I used the example of Monsters Inc. mochis made by Amanda, who generously shares many creative takes on Mochimochi Land patterns.

So I had it in mind that we’d get to see some other fun characters from pop culture. I was not wrong!

Continue reading “More Mochi Mod Characters!” →

Mod Contest Winners

Posted on July 18, 2016July 26, 2016 by Anna

You all really came through with fun modified mochis for our first ever Mochi Mod Contest!

The delay in announcing winners is partly because there were so many awesome entries and it was difficult to narrow them down! And also because it’s summer and we wanted to lie in the grass instead of sit in front of a computer. But mostly because there were just so many cool mods to choose from! We were exited to get more than ONE HUNDRED entries.

John and I decided to assign the entries to three categories and choose one from each category. Our winners are the mods that we judged to be the most creative and most unexpected.

Category 1: Most Transformative Mod
Winner: Rapunzel by fruit.snack.knits

As you can see, Rapunzel is a mod of the Neck Nuzzler pattern from Knitting Mochimochi! We love how the knitter turned the nuzzler on its head so that ears become legs, and the theme of longness shared by both characters is brilliant too. Super!

Category 2: Best Pop Culture Character Mod
Winner: The Lorax by Wooly Brain

How cool is this guy!! The eyes and wooly hair really make him, of course, but we were impressed to read in the caption that The Lorax is modified from the Tiny Alien pattern from Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi, AND his tree stump is modified from the Plucky Mushrooms pattern from Knitting Mochimochi. Nicely done!

Category 3: Coolest Craziest Mod
Winner: Cupcake Crown by spiraling.into.madness

All hail the cupcake crown! The tiny cupcakes are from the pattern in Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi, with a modified massive cupcake to top it off. We love this ambitious wearable mod.

Each of our top three winners will receive a $20 Mochimochi Land gift card, a six-skein rainbow from Bonney Teti’s World’s Biggest Yarn Stash…

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And a temporary tattoo and an itty-bitty unicorn!

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I promised you a randomly selected winner too.

Category: Random Mod
MetroGnome: A Cover Band by KnittyKitty99

I think we all know what pattern these guys are modified from. Love their different rockstar personas!

KnittyKitty99 will receive this random prize.

modcontest_randomprize

Winners, I’m contacting you via the websites you submitted from.

Thank you to everyone who participated with their mods! I’ll be sharing more of the cool entries here soon. I think we should hold this contest again sometime, so be thinking about your next mochi mods!

New Tiny People 3 Patterns are Here

Posted on July 11, 2016July 11, 2016 by Anna

And they would like to entertain you!

Through July 31st, get $2 off the Tiny People 3 pattern collection with the code GRANNYGANG.

The patterns aren’t available on Ravelry yet, but if you would like them added to your library when they are (sometime next month), just send me a quick email with your Ravelry name at time of purchase.

(Patterns for a cookie, pie, cupcake, sumo wrestler, and tiny cactus are available separately.)

Interview in Simply Knitting

Posted on July 7, 2016 by Anna

simplyknitting_july16

Simply Knitting magazine interviewed me for their back page “On the Needles” feature in their July 2016 issue. It was a fun interview! Among other things, they asked me what the younger me had wanted to be when I grew up. (Answer: a flight attendant, the owner of a science museum, and the lady who rides the elephants in the circus. Who knows, two of those three dreams may still come true.)

This issue also comes with a free pair of 5mm needles AND a highly detailed Alan Dart pattern for a knitted astronaut. Gotta love Simply Knitting!

How to: Inserting I-cord Arms (and other appendages)

Posted on July 5, 2016March 15, 2017 by Anna

This is a simple technique that I use in many, MANY tiny knitting patterns to make arms, legs, horns, antennae, and all other manner of tiny appendages quickly and easily. It’s ideal for any skinny shape that needs to poke straight out of a creature.

Continue reading “How to: Inserting I-cord Arms (and other appendages)” →

How to: Short Rows (Wrap + Turn)

Posted on July 2, 2016July 5, 2016 by Anna

This is an intermediate knitting technique that lets you add nuanced shapes to your knittings, particularly bulges and bends! I use this technique in my tiny walrus and tiny alpaca patterns, for example.

Continue reading “How to: Short Rows (Wrap + Turn)” →