Author: Anna

The Gnome Genome Project

Posted on by Anna

Finally, all the gnome diplomats that you guys made, plus two giant gnomes, plus lots more gnome-y knits, have cleared customs, and I can announce this show officially!

gnomegenome_announce

The Gnome Genome Project opens Saturday, May 23rd at Everyday Mooonday in Seoul. Anyone who happens to read this from somewhere in or near Seoul, I do hope you can join us at the reception Saturday night!

Here’s the introduction I put together for this show, which should give a fuller picture of what the whole thing is about.

The Gnome Genome Project
Mochimochi Land

In Mochimochi Land, it is commonly believed that gnomes are the glue that holds the universe together, from the subatomic to the cosmic level. Gnomes (sometimes spelled knomes) are neither male nor female, and once mature, they are ageless. To those who live in Mochimochi Land, they represent wisdom, tradition, mischief, and magic. These are properties that they share with the craft of knitting.

In our world, gnomes are generally associated with northern European folklore, but they appear in many stories from various cultures, where they take on all manner of personalities, from good to evil. In Mochimochi Land, gnomes are neither good nor evil, gnomes just are. They’re busy, weird, playful, and quick to love or fight.

This exhibition is a celebration of gnomes to an almost obsessive degree. It also asks: What do gnomes do when no one is looking at them? How much can a gnome be twisted, morphed, or given a costume change before it’s no longer a gnome? What do we see of ourselves in the gnomes that we make? Is there such a thing as too many gnomes? Where the heck will all of these gnomes end up? It may all just be a big silly joke in the end, but for now it’s time to go gnome or go home!

Anna Hrachovec
Mochimochi Land

I’ll be sharing plenty of images from the show here once it’s up, but if you’d like to see the pieces available for sale as early as possible, please sign up for my art newsletter.

Knitterj’s Mother’s Day Bento

Posted on by Anna

This is too cute: Jan (knitterj on Ravelry) whipped up this scrumptious Mother’s Day bento to give to her sushi-loving mom this Sunday!

tinysushi_knitterj

So much better than flowers, right moms? The plastic grass tucked in around the sides really makes it for me.

You can find the patterns in the Tiny Sushi Bar Set (also available on Ravelry).

An early Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there! I’m headed to Oklahoma this weekend so I can spend the day with mine.

Adventures in Mochimochi Land Preview: The Underwater Election

Posted on by Anna

It’s just about one month until the release of my new combo storybook and pattern book, Adventures in Mochimochi Land!

Last month I shared a preview of the first story in the book, The Hungry Donut. And today I’m sharing a peek into the second story in the book, The Underwater Election. Alternative title: Tiny Mochis Under the Sea!

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The protagonists of this story, Bubbles the dolphin and Gary the crab, are political rivals, vying for control over a precious new resource they helped discover.

adventurespre2b

(I used Tosh Merino Light yarn for the first time to make these guys. I was looking for a yarn that would be bright and richly hued and evoke life underwater—I think it really did the trick!)

I’ll leave the nature of the precious resource as a surprise for the book, but rest assured that all kinds of silly political stunts ensue. Gary, for example, serves as guest judge in local a beauty pageant…

adventurespre2c

And Bubbles insists on doing the honors at a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new sandcastle development.

adventurespre2d

Something unexpected happens with the election results, of course, but not before a heated debate complete with mudslinging!

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Each of the stories in this book came with its own unique challenges, from the writing to the photography. With this story, a big challenge was figuring out how to represent Mochimochi Land underwater, something I hadn’t really done before. I wasn’t sure how we would do it until the last minute when it was time for the photo shoot! But the local craft store came through with sparkly fabric for the background,

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(Ironed directly on the wall for maximum wrinkle-free sparkly-ness…)

Some lucky finds like seaweed-shaped pipe cleaners,

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And yarn that looked amazingly like coral!

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Speaking of which, in the haste of doing the photo shoot last year, I failed to make note of which novelty yarns we used to make the coral and other cool seaweed-looking stuff that appear in the images. If anyone knows what they’re looking at, please share in the comments!

I almost forgot the last big challenge of all of these underwater photos: erasing all of those pesky sticks holding everyone afloat!

adventurespre2i

All I can say is thank goodness for Photoshop and for a photographer who really knows how to use it.

Adventures in Mochimochi Land is coming out June 9th! It’s now available for preorder from Amazon, from Barnes & Noble, and from Powells, among other places. Signed copies are also available for preorder from me in the Mochimochi Shop. Or if you have a local bookstore or yarn store that you support, please ask them if they’ll carry it!

Shipping off the Diplomats

Posted on by Anna

This has been a busy week of organizing and packing and otherwise getting ready to ship hundreds of gnomes off to Korea for next month’s show at Everyday Mooonday. Here’s what our dining room looks like right now.

seoulboxes

I think at least one of those boxes is just holding packing peanuts for other boxes, but I don’t even know anymore. Shipping is stressful!

Of course, among those hundreds of gnomes are hundreds of gnome diplomats that all of you sent in. In preparation for sending them off on their mission of spreading cuteness and happiness to the other side of the globe, we’ve finally tallied them all: Including the lovely gnomes submitted by Chicagoland knitters at YarnCon, we recruited a total of 332 gnomes to travel to Seoul—I am blown away by this number!

gnomediplomacy_332

To celebrate, I’m selecting two random gnome knitters to get a Personal Happiness Labbit that I picked up at Rotofugi.

gnomediplomacy_labbits

There’s no need for suspense, so the winners are… Monica E. and Rosemary S.! I’ll send you each an email for your mailing address.

Full details about the show are coming soon, but first I get to take a weekend off from knitting gnomes, which will be a refreshing break before John and I start getting ready to go to Seoul ourselves!

Soupy Says Goodbye to the Giant Gnomes

Posted on by Anna

Previously:
Project Giant Gnome
Three Feet Tall
Kinda Done but Not Really
Giant Gnome has a Big New Friend

Just as I’m about to ship the giant gnomes off to Seoul, Soupy finally cozies up to the big guys.

soupy_giantgnomes

Today I’m going to “deflate” them by removing all the stuffing, so that they’re more compact for international shipping. Then once I arrive in Seoul later in May, hopefully they will be waiting for me to stuff them back up and put them in a show at Everyday Mooonday!

By the way, they now have names! Alfred (in the blue shirt) and Omelet (in the green).

Big thanks to Lion Brand for providing the yarn for this epic knitting project. The full show announcement and info are coming soon!

Adventures in Mochimochi Land: Official Trailer

Posted on by Anna

I’m excited to share an official trailer for my new book, Adventures in Mochimochi Land!

So that’s a little taste of the fun that’s coming June 9th. You can also read a preview of the first story in the book here.

Adventures in Mochimochi Land is coming out June 9th! It’s now available for preorder from Amazon, from Barnes & Noble, and from Powells, among other places. Signed copies are also available for preorder from me in the Mochimochi Shop. Or if you have a local bookstore or yarn store that you support, please ask them if they’ll carry it!

Thanks to Maureen Boyle for putting the trailer together!