My projects have been getting twisted in the very best way lately. Anyone stepping into my bedroom/studio these days has to navigate this colorful mess!
This knotty bunch of yarn and wood will become a new solo show to open in Berlin for the Pictoplasma festival in April. It’s such a new and whirlwind project that I don’t even have a name for it yet!
More details and updates to come soon…
Update: Thank you for all the great comments about your favorite NYC icons! The randomly-selected winner has been chosen!
I have some big-city knitting cuteness to share today! Lauren O’Farrell, my fellow designer of strange knitted things, has a new book of patterns out! And it’s set in my favorite city…
A follow-up to Lauren’s 2011 book Stitch London, the new Stitch New York features adorably kooky versions of icons from the Big Apple for you to knit. Like that precious Woody Allen!
And taxis!
I actually had an unexpected role in this book, when Lauren showed up at my Brooklyn apartment and asked me to model some unusual garments on my stoop…
Don’t worry—I have no ambitions of quitting my day job.
The adorable creature with me is Bandit, my sister-in-law Jenna’s dog who was a perfect model for a number of dog costumes (because New Yorkers dress up their dogs for all occasions).
How cute is he!?! It’s bittersweet to see this silly face, because Bandit sadly passed away on January 1st this year, about five months after these photos were taken. He is sorely missed! But it makes me happy that he could be immortalized in hilarious costumes.
Lauren’s publisher David & Charles was nice enough to send me a copy of Stitch New York to give away, so one of you will get a copy! (And I’m sure the rest of you will buy it!) Just leave a comment on this post telling us about your favorite NYC icon. Please leave only one comment per person, and I’ll randomly pick a winner on Friday!
And if you haven’t read it, check out the interview I did with Lauren a couple years back. She’s fascinating!
Last weekend I was invited to give a talk at the NYC Pictoplasma festival, an event that brings together creators and lovers of character art for talks and screenings. It was seven hours packed with inspiration and adorable characters. I thought I’d share some of the love today!
Julia Pott lives in Brooklyn like me, and she creates animals with gorgeous detail and subtle personalities.
This is a short animation that she screened during her talk—it’s actually a bit unsettling, but also beautiful and mysterious, and it combines live-action footage with animation.
Random Acts – The Event from Julia Pott on Vimeo.
You can buy cards and prints and more starring Julia’s sweater-wearing characters from her Etsy shop.
Gemma Correll from England is another awesome lady making illustrations of animals, but hers are hilarious cartoony journal-like meditations on life.
She also has some awesome stuff available to buy, and I think we should all buy it.
Another person I was super-excited to meet was Sonni, an Argentina-born illustrator and animator who used to work for Friends With You (one of my favorite character art companies) and now lives in Brooklyn. I love his recent work, but my all-time favorite project of his has to be the Hello Kitty x Wish Come True toys that he designed while at Friends With You.
I wish these were still available, but I’m quite sure they’re hard to find now. But Sonni also has a couple of prints available from his website.
Other presenting artists, all of whose work I really admired, were Andy Rementer, David OReilly, Buff Monster, and Jason Freeny.
And here’s a photo of me giving my talk! (I was all nerves, but I think it went pretty well.)
(Thanks, Arkadium Art!)
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
UPDATE: I’ll be presenting a slideshow about the origins of Mochimochi Land on Sunday, April 7th at 11:30am at the stage in the Exhibit Hall.
Exciting news! The mochis and I are taking on Seattle in April for Vogue Knitting Live!
For the first time, I’m teaching a class at VK Live, so you can become an expert in knitting tiny toys with me! There is very limited space for the classes, so I recommend registering now if you can.
Plus! I’ll have a display in the art gallery area at VK Live, and when I’m not teaching, I’ll be there with books and kits and more.
I fell in love with Seattle when I visited a couple years back, and I’m so excited to be returning with lots of my little friends!
Vogue Knitting Live Seattle
April 5-7, 2013
Meydenbauer Convention Center and Hyatt Regency Bellevue
As robot experts can tell you, Luvbots are programmed for two things: falling in love and generating puns. So if you’re looking for an especially silly way to spread the love and make people smile this week, we have you covered with a sheet of FREE Luvbots valentines!
Just download the PDF, print (preferably on cover stock or card stock), cut along the dotted lines, and give to your favorite humanoids!
You know what would go great with these valentines? A hand-knitted Luvbot made by you! Or a shiny new screwdriver set. (Hm, speaking of puns…)
My friend Christi is getting married tomorrow! She’s one of those cool brides, so of course she requested a tiny Dr. Who set as a wedding gift. Now that I know she’s opened it, I can show them here…
I’m embarrassed to say that I have yet to watch any Dr. Who, so I had to take to Twitter to find out who Rose is and what her Doctor should look like. Fortunately the Dr. Who groupies really came through for me! I’ve also been flattered to get some pattern requests, but I’ll have to think about this one since I don’t normally make patterns for existing characters. But I can say that they were relatively simple modifications of the other tiny people that I’ve designed.
Best wishes to Christi and her husband-to-be Bobby!
Even in a tiny caveman family, communication is the key to success.
More animations starring these guys are coming soon!
I guess no one can resist miniature Hello Kitty-themed groceries, because we got 219 comments on Friday’s giveaway post! (You all made me seriously hungry with your descriptions of favorite things from the grocery store.)
Because there were so many funny and enthusiastic comments, I’ve decided to give away TWO blind boxes instead of just one!
And just so we can all further enjoy the cuteness contained in these boxes, I’m opening another one right now…
Gah, the cuteness is almost too much.
OK, now for the randomly selected winners…
Comment #155, by Myha:
My favorite thing at the grocery store is probably the bulk candy section… hehehe. I have a wee bit of a sweet tooth!
And comment #125, by Stephanie:
My favorite thing in a grocery store would have to be the bakery, specifically the cake section.. teehee! 8)
Congratulations to our winners! I’ll be in touch via email to get your addresses.
Thanks again to everyone who shared their supermarket cravings!