Author: Anna

Gnomes vs Snowmen in Astounding 3D

Posted on by Anna

In my last post I included a photo of the Gnomes vs Snowmen battle that I showed at VK Live last year, which was originally a larger installation at NYC’s gallery hanahou in 2011. if you missed seeing it in person, today I’m bringing it right into your living room or office, with lifelike 3D photos!

Put your red and blue glasses on now.

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Don’t have magic glasses? Well, it’s really worth a look if you can find some! Or just take my word for it that it’s like you’re in the midst of an epic gnome/snowman battle.

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Thank you to Jess Mireau, who also shared 3D photos of my previous Mochimochi Land installation!

You can see non-3D photos of the show at my art website.

Mochis Headed to VK Live NYC

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Vogue Knitting Live returns to NYC January 18-20! And for the third year in a row, I’m bringing my knitted artwork and other mochi goodies to this epic knitting event!

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This year, I’m exhibiting Mochimochimochimochimochi, which was first shown at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in 2011.

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At last count, the piece is made up of 372 tiny mochis (plus two big guys swimming in them), but I’m planning to add more prior to and throughout the event, so who knows how large it will grow…

In addition to the artwork, I’ll have books and kits available, including two new top-secret kits! You can find me in the art gallery area of the marketplace. If you’re not already registered for VK Live, there is a fee to enter the marketplace.

Plus on Sunday the 20th I’ll be doing a book signing at the Knitty City booth at noon!

Here’s all the logistical info:

Vogue Knitting Live NYC
January 18-20, 2013
New York Marriott Marquis
1535 Broadway (between 45th and 46th Streets)

Marketplace hours:
Fri 5-8pm; Sat 11am-6:30pm; Sun 10am-4:30pm

Hope to see you there! And did you hear that VK Live is coming to Seattle in April? I’ll be there! More details coming soon…

New Favorite Botan Rice Candy Stickers

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My last visit to Japanese food store Sunrise Mart (close to Purl Soho in NYC) was a big success: my Botan Rice Candy boxes both came with awesome stickers!

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A dog wearing a green suit is holding a box of donuts and making “mog-mog” chewing sounds. This is an excellent sticker. The squirrel on a mushroom is a little less impressive, but he’s cute, and the weirdly slapdash illustrations of the mushrooms are pretty funny.

As I recently elaborated in an interview with awesome 15-year-old blogger Alex, Botan Rice Candy is my favorite because it has edible rice wrappers that crinkle in your mouth, and each package comes with a sticker that looks like it was designed sometime in the mid-20th century. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Japan over the years, but I’ve never seen these “Made in Japan” candies anywhere in that country; they seem to be a treat unique to Asian food stores in the US.

For more critiques of Botan Rice Candy stickers, check out my archived posts.

2012 Animation Supercut

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My new favorite thing to do last year was make animated GIFs, which turned out to be a fun way to make my tiny mochi friends come alive. I made tons of mini stop-motion animations last year, and I thought it would be neat to put my favorites together in a video, complete with an original score by yours truly. (I also recently taught myself how to use GarageBand, so 2013 might be the year of annoying songs.)

I’m looking forward to continuing the mochi motion madness in 2013!

2012 Mochimochi Favorites

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It’s been another great year here in Mochimochi Land! If you can believe it, 2012 was the sixth year of this blog and the sixth year of Mochimochi knits. The time has gone so quickly!

I’d like to wrap up 2012 with a quick look back at some of my favorite happenings on the blog. Here we go!

**Favorite New Patterns**

Jumbo Gnome

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After two-plus years of knitting teeny-tiny stuff, I was excited to try designing something with a little more heft. I just love how he turned out!

Plinky & Plunky

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Knitting a piano had been a lofty dream of mine for a long time, so it felt like a real accomplishment to finally figure out how to get the design just right. Now my holy grail of knitting is a refrigerator. Maybe someday….

**Favorite Mochimochi Mods**

Soyaspade’s Flower and Buddy (modified from the Pocket Protectors pattern in Knitting Mochimochi)

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This pair is an adorable mod with its elegant horticultural twists!

Zephrbabe’s Tiny Napoleon, modified from the Tiny Gnome pattern.

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I’m in love with this little guy! This knitter added just the right details to make him unmistakably Napoleon.

**Favorite Crazy Fun Project**

Gnome Infestation!

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I had way too much fun taking photos of the naughty gnomes who had moved into my apartment in the night…

**Favorite Animated GIF**

Free Unicorn Rides

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This one was hard to choose (I’ve made over 20 GIFs this year), but I’m going with this one because it included the first scene change that I’ve done. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but I think it made a coherent story, and I love it.

**Favorite Tiny Mochi**

Tiny Turtle

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I didn’t make as many tiny mochis this year as I have in the past, but I know I’ll never be tired of them. This guy turned out pretty cute, and you can expect a pattern sometime in 2013!

**Favorite Cat Photo**

Happy Valenfeline’s Day!

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I love how my boys snuggle up so close one minute and then are duking it out for the top of the scratching post the next.

**Favorite Interview**

Hine Mizushima

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Hine has been a huge inspiration to me for a long time, and it was a pleasure to interview her and learn more about her story and her creative process.

**Favorite Random Cute Thing**

Sweet Dreams animation by Kirsten Lepore

I can only dream of making an animated short like this someday!

Those were just a few things I’m excited about as I look back on this year. But more than anything, getting to know all of you through your comments and tweets and photos of your own Mochimochi knits, and especially by meeting you at events throughout the year, is really the best part for me. Thank you for being there and helping to spread hand-knitted happiness throughout the world! See you in 2013…

What I’m Knitting to (and Running to): Lots of Music

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December is such a hectic month up until the end, and so I’ve found myself choosing music more often over podcasts and TV when I’m knitting. The right album for my mood lets me get into a groove of extended concentration on what’s taking shape in my hands, which is particularly helpful when I’m in the process of designing something.

Here are the albums I’m enjoying lately, some old and some new.

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New music (2012 favorites):
Put Your Back N 2 It by Perfume Genius
America by Dan Deacon
Ekstasis by Julia Holter

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Older favorites:
Horses by Patti Smith
Crazy Rhythms by The Feelies (I’ve blogged about this one before)
Fabulous Muscles by Xiu Xiu (explicit)
Privilege EPs by Parenthetical Girls

On another note, the beginning of the year seems like a great time to refresh my running mix. These are some recent (single track) additions that I’ve made, and I would love more suggestions:

Gangrimes Style by Dan Deacon
Honey Bunny by Girls
Handsome Devil by The Smiths
Stay Useless by Cloud Nothings
Came Out of a Lady by Rubblebucket

What are you going to exercise to in the new year? And what music, podcasts, TV, etc. are you knitting to as 2012 winds down? Please share in the comments!