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Mochimochi Land is on Pinterest!

Posted on March 28, 2012March 29, 2012 by Anna

Update: It’s awesome to see so many of you are on Pinterest! I’m looking forward to sharing inspiration and ideas there!

I suddenly caught the Pinterest bug last week! And then I caught pinkeye—yuck… So I’ve had a few days of downtime to pin some of my favorite things.

So far I’m pinning some of my favorite character art and plushes, along with favorite Mochimochi characters and mods. I hope to make more boards as the inspiration hits me! You can find me on Pinterest as Mochimochiland.

Speaking of social networks, you can also find Mochimochi Land on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and of course Ravelry! Sometimes I announce special discounts through these channels, so keep your eyes open!

Are you on Pinterest? If so, what do you use it for? Please share!

A Majestic Tiny Dinosaur Surveys his Cookies

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Anna

I was psyched to see herds of bunnies spring up over the weekend in the Flickr group for our Tiny Baby Bunnies Contest! You’ve got one more week to enter, which is plenty of time to knit up some bunnies and photograph them doing something cute and creative.

To give us all a little inspiration, here’s neledh’s awesome photo of a very tiny dinosaur (from Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi) feeling very big!

I love how the lighting and short depth of field makes a simple scene very epic. And now I want to eat cookies.

But you don’t have to do fancy photo effects to make a great entry for our bunny contest. We’re looking for creativity and fun more than a professional-looking photo.

See our full contest details on how to enter and maybe win lots of beautiful Koigu yarn!

Tiny Fantasy Patterns are Here!

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Anna

Make your knitting dreams come true with the new Tiny Fantasy Set! Tiny Fairy, Yeti, Dragon, and the much-awaited Tiny Unicorn can each be knitted up in an hour or two and are perfect for using up scrap yarn. Make them into pins, ornaments, gift toppers, magnets, and more!

The pattern collection is now available for $6 in the Mochimochi Shop.

Knit them up, and you might be surprised at what your magical new friends will do…

unicornparade

The Infestation

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Anna

When we moved into our Brooklyn apartment a couple years ago, it seemed perfect: quiet, spacious, and close to the park. But no apartment is perfect, and as it turns out, this one has a serious pest problem. I don’t want to gross you out, but I think it’s important to raise awareness about tiny gnome infestations.

First I found them in the kitchen playing with the toaster.

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I thought it was a one-time thing, but then I discovered they had gotten into my cereal. Yuck!

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When I found them in my desk drawer, I knew this problem wasn’t going away.

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In fact, they seem to be making a special effort to do naughty things.

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I can’t even wear my favorite shoes anymore.

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Now that they’re using our toilet as a swimming pool, I’m thinking it’s time to just move out.

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I admit that I may be to blame for our tiny gnome problem—it’s possible that a couple of gnomes that I knitted escaped into the walls and multiplied, but there’s really no way to trace where they came from. The point is that you should get your home checked for tiny gnomes today, before it’s too late.

Inspiration: It’s a Small World, in 1964

Posted on March 19, 2012March 19, 2012 by Anna

Sometimes people ask me what inspires my Mochimochi world, and although so many things do, sometimes I have trouble recalling them when put on the spot. So I thought it would be fun to start blogging my inspirations every once in a while as a good way to celebrate my favorite things and maybe inspire others too!

Slate recently ran an article about Robert Sherman, a composer for Disney who passed away earlier this month and who was partly responsible for “It’s a Small World (After All),” the much loved (but maybe more hated) song that never ends. The article contained a Youtube video of the original It’s a Small World ride, which debuted at the 1964 World’s Fair in NYC, then was later moved to Disneyland.

I started watching because I remembered loving the ride at Disneyworld when I was five or so (in the mid-’80s), and because I had a moment to kill. I pretty much fell in love all over again.

I can’t help fantasizing about being the person who got to plan out the landscape of this ride, with the objective of recreating the world as hundreds of children singing and dancing in perfect harmony and in respective national costumes. Oh the awesome nightmares I would probably have! The animatronics astound me, especially the way that entire scenes of characters each make multiple subtle movements in rhythm. It’s all so epic and analog and mid-century World’s Fair. And very Disney, of course.

The ride’s Wikipedia entry says that Mary Blair basically had that job of designing the original It’s a Small World. I should have guessed! You can see some of her artwork at Magic of Mary Blair. She is a huge inspiration.

You can also find clips of the ride in its current form on Youtube—it’s interesting to see how much has been kept from the original, but the newer ride also clearly features fewer moving parts, which I’m sure helps with maintenance costs, but which also makes it lose a little of the magic. Still, It’s a Small World will again be a must-ride for me the next time I find myself at a Disney theme park.

Oh, and if the song is stuck in your head for the rest of the week, my apologies!

Tiny Girl Scout

Posted on March 16, 2012March 16, 2012 by Anna

Today’s tiny mochi is wearing green, but she’s no leprechaun!

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The Girl Scouts are celebrating their 100th anniversary this week, and having been one myself, I am proud to celebrate with them!

I have so many great memories from Girl Scouts (with the Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma), including the two weeks I spent at photography camp and got to use a darkroom for the first (and last) time. I vividly remember giggling in the dark with my fellow photographer scouts as we tried to remember which chemical bath did which thing.

I bet many of you also have favorite Girl Scout memories—I hope you’ll share them in the comments!

Sushi Earrings

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Anna

You’ve probably never asked yourself, “Does this sushi match my eyes?” Mutterpagh in Denmark did just that when she made some fashion-forward earrings out of the Tiny Ebi and Tiny Maki from the Sushi Bar Set!

She made them for a meeting of the Danish Knitters’ Association, for which everyone was challenged to wear knitted jewelry. I have to assume that hers really stood out!

Of course, if these sushi earrings were Tiny Baby Bunny earrings, they would make a great entry in our ongoing contest! But you can still add your photos of any Mochimochi projects to the Flickr group, and they will automatically be entered in our next general photo contest.

Yeti Sledding

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Anna

Spring is right around the corner (although it feels like it’s arrived early in so many places this year), and that means that the tiny yetis have to squeeze in all the wintry fun they can in the next few days.

When they’re not playing tag or having dance parties, you can find them on the slopes!

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The Tiny Yeti pattern is coming soon in a new fantasy-themed collection—stay tuned!