Author: Anna

Soupy and Nipsey’s Outdoor Adventure

Posted on by Anna

Over the past few days we finally experienced what felt like our first absolutely perfect weekend in our new Chicago home. We celebrated by taking Soupy and Nipsey outside for the very first time.

Being sheltered indoor cats, Soupy and Nipsey’s only prior experience with the great outdoors has always been through an open window, or occasionally through the door of a cat carrier as they were taken to the vet. But now we have a backyard for them to play in, so we got a cat tent!

The outdoor adventure got off to a slow start as both cats preferred to say in their carriers for a while.

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Then they got brave!

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Nipsey turned out to be the bravest, spending 15 minutes out of his carrier cautiously stepping around the tent and sniffing the air constantly before ducking back in, then coming out for another 15 minutes or so. He did this a few times.

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John and I made lots of encouraging noises and gave pep talks, while trying not to be pushy cat parents.

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Soupy also made it out once or twice, but he generally preferred the familiar comfort of the carrier.

They spent an hour or so in the tent before we decided it was time to go back inside. I can’t wait to try this again and see how it goes. I wonder if any of you out there have taken your indoor cats out in a similar way?

These exciting cat adventure photos also remind me that today is the last day for entries in our 2014 Photo Series Contest! So don’t forget to add your series to our Flickr group by midnight tonight for them to be eligible. We’ll be announcing the winners soon!

Winners of Super-Scary Mochimochi in Korean

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It’s time to pick two people to win copies of the Korean edition of Super-Scary Mochimochi! 11 of you who speak Korean or know someone who does left comments on my post from last week for the giveaway. (I’m not counting my dad, who commented to say that I’m going to need more books, or the other person who commented to say that my dad is amusing.)

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And our two randomly-selected winners are…

commenter number 5, Salleigh:

I did independent study of Korean while at university, and also attended the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, CA, to study Korean. I was stationed in Korea off and on for 7 years as well. I would love a copy of your book so I can learn Korean knitting terminology :)

and commenter number 3, Maria:

My Korean friend would love a book like this and I’m sure her kids would love to have a few super scary mochis.

Congrats, winners! I’ll be emailing you two soon for your addresses.

And if any of you happen to be in Korea and spot this book in the wild (at a bookstore or library), please snap a photo and send it to me! In fact, that goes for any foreign-language edition of any of my books. With each one, the mochis are getting a little bit closer to world domination!

Gnome Team Selfie

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These selfie-taking gnomes want to remind you that Tuesday is the last day to enter our photo series contest!

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I made this little sculpture earlier this year for the 10th anniversary Pictoplasma Festival, a week of events celebrating character art in Berlin that happened last month. I didn’t make it in person this year, but my gnomes were part of their character portrait gallery that will be traveling to other cities next.

The sculpture is meant to be seen from all sides, so I made this GIF before sending it off to Berlin.

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Happy Memorial Day weekend! I hope some of you plan to spend a little bit of it taking photos of your mochis!

Super-Scary Mochimochi in Korean

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Here’s some cool news: Super-Scary Mochimochi, my book of patterns for cute and creepy mochis, has just come out in Korean!

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The guy on the cover toting a net of naughty mochis is my friend Mike (who’s also my photographer’s husband). So now Mike can say he’s big in Korea!

This entirely translated version was published by Hans Media. I love how it has such a different look from the original book.

Even though I know the whole thing is in Korean (and I can’t read a bit of Korean), I just can’t stop flipping through the pages and seeing how different they look in translation.

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And here’s a nice little touch that isn’t in the English version: cute little icons!

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I don’t know what these guys are supposed to be, but I’m all for them.

I actually have more copies of this book than I need, so I would love to give two of them away to people who can use them. If you live in the US and are a native speaker of Korean, or know someone who is, or if you’re studying Korean in the US, please leave a comment! I’ll randomly pick two people to give the book away to next Tuesday (May 27th).

Quarters the Arcade is Here!

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I am psyched to announce the newest pattern in the Mochimochi Shop.

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Meet Quarters, formerly knows as the untitled arcade mochi project!

This design has been in the works for… nearly 10 months! If you’ve been a regularly visitor here during that time, you’ve seen that it started with a sketch, then went through a rough draft while I figured out the shape, and then finally I asked all of you for name suggestions while I worked on the pattern writing and chart making. (Thank you, Crysta, for the perfect name!)

A couple months of tech editing (thank you Marilyn), testing (thank you Linda, Rikke, and Amanda), and more editing, and we have a finished pattern! Just for fun, here’s the whole thing.

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As you can see, the pattern contains photos, charts, and an assembly schematic. It’s definitely not a one-evening project, but I think it’s a very satisfying knit for anyone who’s into gaming (or loves someone who is) and is up for a challenge. Most of the pattern is knitted flat and seamed together, with intarsia along the way. The piping consists of two I-cords that are stitched on at the end.

The pattern is now available as a PDF download for $8 in the Mochimochi Shop. And get $2 off with the code LEVELUP through May 26th!

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That’s a Wrap

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I can hardly believe I’m typing these words, but the book photo shoot is officially wrapped! After 11 straight days of work and 3,175 frames taken, Brandi and I finally tore down the last set with bittersweet feelings late Saturday night. (I only just now have the energy to blog about it.)

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Tomorrow I go home to Chicago, where I just might sleep for 3 days straight before finishing up the rest of the work on this book. Of course, every book I’ve written has been a big challenge, but this one has been a challenge of an entirely different nature. My hope is that all the work will result in something pretty cool and unique in 2015.

For those of you who have been waiting for an email or other reply from me in the past few weeks, thank you for your patience. I’ll be back to a more normal life and work schedule soon!

Interview: Julie Lindsey of Happy Go Lucky Yarn

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How are your entries for our photo series contest coming along?? You have nearly 3 weeks left before the deadline—plenty of time to snap a series of fun photos with your mochis!

Today I’m excited to share with you an interview with Julie Lindsey, the yarn artist behind Happy Go Lucky, the sponsor for our photo contest.

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I’m especially thrilled to have her as a sponsor because not only are her hand-dyed yarns lovely, but she’s also local to our new Chicago home! So I’ve had the opportunity to meet her in person and talk fiber on multiple occasions. It’s so cool to know the person behind the yarn. Get to know Julie yourself (and pick up some tips on working with hand-dyed yarn) after the jump!

Continue reading “Interview: Julie Lindsey of Happy Go Lucky Yarn” →

Things Learned on the Set

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Week one of my book photo shoot has been quite a whirlwind of knitting and photography and some strange decision making! Some of the things I’ve learned in the past 7 days:

• Sometimes the best thing to do is iron the wall.

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• Pipe cleaners have really come a long way since I was a kid, and I seriously have a whole new respect for them.

• In a pinch, a ball of yarn can be a pretty great reflector holder.

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• My dad is a hero. (But I already knew that.)

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• My photographer is a hero. (I knew that too!)

• Wrapping a plastic ferris wheel in yarn is harder than it sounds.

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• Even the cutest toys have to get ugly sometimes. For the sake of art.

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• It’s probably best not to start out a photo shoot with the most difficult shot in the entire book.

There’s plenty more work to do and I’m sure lots more to learn along the way. Follow me on Twitter or Facebook for behind-the-scenes updates as we enter week two of the photo shoot!