Author: Anna

Two Little Lions

Posted on by Anna

Personal project time!

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I now have two little lions done for our little lion on the way. I wanted to make them out of acrylic yarn so they’ll be extra baby proof, and I was also eager to get started, so I’m using colors that I had on hand (a Bernat yarn, I think) that also happen to work great for lions.

I’m planning to make six total, each with a different type of mane. With two down and about 10 weeks to go before baby, I think I’ll achieve my goal with time to spare! (Sometimes it’s nice not to be too ambitious—don’t ask me about baby sweaters!)

I was thinking about it last night, and this is actually the first personal knitting I’ve done in a long time, maybe in a couple of years. It’s so nice to feel motivated to knit something in my extracurricularly. I guess babies make people do strange things…

New Tiny Terrors Patterns are Here!

Posted on by Anna

Just in time for Halloween, some creepy new creatures have crept into Mochimochi Land…

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Tiny Terrors are an itty-bitty vampire, werewolf, mad scientist, and two-headed dude who are out to make you scream! (Or at least squee!)

Like all of my tiny patterns, these guys can be knit up with very little yarn and with plenty of time left over for you to finish your Halloween costume. Perfect for a spooky diorama, a ghoulish garland, or surprises for your favorite trick-or-treaters.

Techniques include knitting in the round on double-pointed needles, I-cord, and a little stranded colorwork. Fingering-weight yarn and size 1 DPNs are recommended, but you can use any weight of yarn and appropriately sized needles. (Scrap yarn works great!)

The downloadable pattern collection is available for $6 from the Mochimochi Shop OR from the Mochimochi Land Ravelry store.

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As you can see, I got to buy lots of my favorite Halloween candies for the photo shoots for these guys. Here’s a behind-the-scenes shot of the main image.

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(Yes, I have since eaten each and every one of those pumpkins and the candy corn above.)

As often happens during the testing stage of my patterns, I got to see some fun color variations that I hadn’t thought of. Amanda’s bunch included a mad scientist with some shockingly bright hair…

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Which led me to make some of my own variations, including a tiny vampiress and a three-headed dude.

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Instructions for tiny three heads are now included in the pattern, by the way.

Thanks to Amanda, and also Shama, Yvonne, and Marilyn!

I can’t wait to see what these designs become in the hands of the rest of you…

Knit Tiny Pumpkins at the Chicago Library Oct 24

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Free event alert! Come knit tiny pumpkins with me at the Chicago downtown library on October 24th.

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You can bring your own yarn and needles (if you’re new to knitting tiny toys, I recommend worsted-weight yarn and size 5 DPNs), or you can purchase a kit from me containing yarn, needles, and stuffing at the event. I’ll also have my other books available for purchase.

Check out the full information here!

Third Time at Vogue Knitting LIVE Chicago was a Charm

Posted on by Anna

This past weekend was Vogue Knitting LIVE Chicago—my third time to be there! It was a busy weekend of Mochimochi Land assembling, seeing familiar faces in the marketplace, a little lecturing on knitting toys, and handing out prizes to tiny hot dog hunters.

It takes a lot of prep to get ready for one of these events, but Soupy was on it last week, in a literal sort of way.

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This was my first time showing the classic tabletop Mochimochi Land at VK LIVE in Chicago, and it had some exciting additions, including donuts attacking bakers from my new book, Adventures in Mochimochi Land.

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Also new were tiny me, John, and our cats thanks to Joan, one of our favorite mochi makers. You could find the family just beyond the unicorn eaters.

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Speaking of family, here’s my mom! She joined me all weekend and was a great help. We even got her some Malabrigo yarn so she could knit a cowl as she manned the booth with me.

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Mom also helped me hang a new little garland at our table—I think it was a brilliant addition!

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Here are our nine successful hot dog hunters—as usual (for some reason) one of the tiny hotdogs went rogue and wasn’t heard from again!

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These frankfurter finders each won a copy of Adventures in Mochimochi Land or a tiny kit of their choosing.

And finally, Joyce won the weekend as the most savvy mochi knitter, having brought a written list of all the Mochimochi Land patterns that she’s already acquired and didn’t need to get duplicates of.

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Thanks to the Vogue Knitting LIVE team for a great weekend, and thanks to everyone who came out! With the baby coming in December, this will be my last VK LIVE for a little while, but I’m sure you can’t keep me away for too long.

Sheila’s HUGE Tiny Mochi Assortment

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I’ve been seeing some impressive tiny mochi projects on Ravelry lately—they make my day every time! It also bodes well for our upcoming annual photo and video contest. I’ll be announcing that here soon, but you can already start submitting your photos by adding them to our Flickr group. (And check out last year’s contest details for more information.)

I don’t want to ruin all the fun by sharing too much before the contest even starts, but I simply must highlight this giant assortment of tinys made by epic knitter Sheila.

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The smaller box that you see was made for Sheila by some of her friends, then true to form, Sheila blew up the idea to heroic proportions. Truly there is no end to her creative energy. (Be sure to check out her hexiscenes too!)

By the way, I’m still working on choosing the prizes for this year’s photo contest. If you have any ideas for what you’d like them to be, let me know!

A Little Lion on the Way

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I’ve got some personal life news to share today: John and I are expecting a baby boy in December!

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This is the first thing that I’ve knitted for him, a little lion ball. I’m planning to make several more in different colors and also maybe with different types of manes. They’ll either become a mobile or will just be little balls to play with.

Here’s the side view—very simple.

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The due date is December 19th, so the holidays will certainly be different for us this year!

I’ll continue shipping orders as long as I can, but there will be a delay in sending out tangible orders sometime after the beginning of December. (I’ll put up a notice about it when that happens, and we will continue shipping on a delayed schedule after that.) I’ll also be taking a few months off from most work, so the blog and social media will be pretty quiet for a while, but I plan to be back at it whenever I can.

Thanks in advance for your patience while we figure out how to be parents!

An Evening at Lion Brand and NYC Gnomes

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Following up on the previous post, last Thursday I was happy to be back at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio!

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Technical difficulties that resulted in me hoisting my laptop up for everyone to squint at, but people were patient with me and we all had a nice time.

Thank you to everyone at the Studio and everyone who came out! (And thanks to Koko for the photo!)

I was in the city for a couple more days, so I spent the time visiting friends, seeing museums, and sprinkling a little gnome magic around. One gnome wanted to be right in the middle of everything, so he got dropped off at 14th Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan.

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Gnome number two was more of a hipster, so he disembarked at the Bedford Ave subway station in Brooklyn.

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Gnome number three was up for some culture, so he left us at PS1 in Queens.

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And the last tiny gnome took off all his clothes at City Hall in Jersey City.

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I’m certain that each of these guys has now found a new home and is having a whole different big city adventure now.

While I was leaving them around, of course, I shared their locations and photos on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. So if you’d like to keep up with future gnome drops in real time, follow me there!

Sept 17th Talk and Book Signing at Lion Brand Yarn Studio, NYC

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I get to go to NYC next week! I’m always excited to visit the last place I called home, and this time the occasion is also exciting—a talk and book signing at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio!

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If you’re in the NYC area, please join me next Thursday, September 17th, at 6pm, when I’ll discuss the adventure that was the making of Adventures in Mochimochi Land with a slideshow talk. The studio always does other little giveaways in conjunction with their talks, so it’ll be a fun evening. RSVP here!

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Maybe I’ll also bring a few gnomes with me to leave in the city while I’m there for a couple of days. If you see a gnome roaming around the city, please give him or her a nice home!

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