The poll has now closed, more than 1800 votes have been tallied, and the results are in for this year’s Mochimochi Photo Contest!

But first, let me take a moment to thank each of you who participated by adding your photos of Mochimochi knits to our Flickr group. The absolute best thing about Mochimochi Land is seeing all of you make the designs your own and bring them to life in endlessly creative ways. You never cease to surprise and inspire me!

Big thank-yous also go to Knit Picks and Potter Craft for their wonderful prizes this year!

We had the stiffest competition ever this year, with a number of photos that didn’t make the finals that easily could have. John and I would especially like to give a shout-out to Stephanie_055’s Cavemen living the prehistoric life and Ilana Marks’ Love in the Bakery, both of which made us giggle with delight when we first saw them.

And now for our official Judges’ Choice Award, which goes to our favorite photo that didn’t make the top three. It’s knitjvf’s Thriller!

We had a hard time even choosing which of this knitter’s entries to put in the semifinals. If you haven’t seen them, be sure to check out her Anne of Green Gables and her Frankenstein wedding too! We are consistently impressed with knitjvf’s (aka Joan’s) work.

And now for our top three winners this year!

In third place, it’s the hilariously spooky Knitted Sofa by JillWatt!

Amazing job! Jill wins a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a $10 gift card to the Mochimochi Shop, and these goodies from Japan hand-picked by us!

The top two photos were neck and neck all through the time that voting was open. They were literally tied all day Saturday, with votes pouring in for both! By the time all the votes were in Sunday night, one came out on top, but it was a really close race the whole way.

In second place is the incredible Knitman’s Sampler by kls1004!

Hooray! Kimberly wins a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a $15 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop, and these fabulous prizes from Japan!

And finally, our first-place winner is the adorable Teamwork by amyh1979!

Woohoo! Amy wins a $50 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a $20 gift card to the Mochimochi Shop, this collection of prizes from Japan…

AND this collection of books from Potter Craft!

Congratulations to our winners! Again, thank you to our sponsors, and to everyone who participated, both by submitting photos and by voting. You make Mochimochi Land the BEST place to live in!

And it’s not too early to enter next year’s contest! All photos added to the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group will be automatically entered in the 2013 Mochimochi Photo Contest. We already can’t wait for the next one!

The time has come to reveal the first 10 semifinalists in the 2012 Mochimochi Photo Contest! These knitters blew us away with their mad knitting skills and crazy-original ideas.

Now that we’re onto the semifinals, we need your help to narrow them down into our finals group. Please ROOT FOR YOUR FAVORITES in the comments to this post. We rely on all of you to make our decision, so it’s important! Just leave a comment saying which photo or photos you would really like to see make the big final vote.

Teamwork by amyh1979

Snowmen working together! We love all their little limbs clamoring over each other.

Tiny Swedish Chef by ohdeerlette

This is a simple mod that really shines. Fantastic background, too!

Cavemen living the prehistoric life Stephanie_055

These are really some posh cavemen with their fancy prehistoric TV. And the improvised cave walls are genius!

Tiny Texas Zombiedillo says Hola by withmyneedles

Hola zombiedillo! You are cute and hilarious.

Angry Birds! by joanna.sammis

An awesome tribute to one of our favorite games! The score at the top really completes this image.

Tiny Knit Sushi by Bitter-Sweet-

Gorgeous food photography here—that tiny sushi looks good enough to eat (and then gag on).

Thriller by knitjvf

We love a good MJ homage! You can just picture these guys breaking out into a lurching Thriller dance.

Big Mistake by kawaiihunter

How is tiny gnome going to get out of this sticky situation?? Such drama and suspense!

Gertrude the Mermaid on her inland vacation by Starparty2000

Gertrude is simply ravishing! The combination of leaf, water ripples, and tiled swimming pool is really cool.

Mama called the Dr and he said NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED! by Snickerdoodleloves

Poor mama monkey has her hands full! You can see the entire adorable story on the knitter’s Flickr page.

Now that you’ve been dazzled by these awesome photos, please ROOT FOR YOUR FAVORITES in the comments to this post! We’ll reveal then second batch of semifinalists on Monday, so stay tuned for more mochi adorableness!

John and I have just gone through all 700+ photos entered in the 2012 Mochimochi Photo Contest last night—it was a late night, as you can imagine! I can honestly say that this was the best overall batch in Mochimochi Land history. The photos were bursting with creativity in the form of fun pattern mods, hilarious stories, and imaginative concepts. It sounds cliché, but we love them all and they are all winners to us!

After much hand-wringing and a few tears, we managed to narrow down the photos to 20 honorable mentions and 20 semifinalists. Today and tomorrow we will feature our honorable mentions, in no particular order.

Without further ado, here is our first group of awesome honorable mentions—after the jump!

Continue reading “Honorable Mentions ’12, Group One” →