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Some New Musics

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Anna

The idea of going to SXSW was again tempting to me this year, but when I really thought about it, it would probably have been tons of waiting in lines (which I hate), loud noises (which I dislike), and standing in one place for hours at a time (which makes me woozy). So instead this year I sifted through A.V. Club and Pitchfork coverage, and came up with a few bands that I’m planning to be a fan of. These are they:

The Rural Alberta Advantage
I just bought their new (and first) album Hometowns. Everyone will like these Canadians.

Titus Andronicus
Nice punkly pop.

The Black & White Years
They are compared to Talking Heads a lot. They are also from Austin, which seems like a nice place to visit most of the year.

Parenthetical Girls
I just broke down and bought their 2008 album Entanglements. (I was planning to wait for a special occasion, but oh well.) It’s strange and silly and I love it. (You’ll probably hate it.)

Daniel Johnston Embroidery from Sublime Stitching

Posted on March 22, 2009 by Anna

Jenny Hart recently unveiled new embroidery patterns over at Sublime Stitching, including a great collection of designs by artist/musician Daniel Johnston!

I’ve been a Daniel Johnston fan for a while now, but I’ve especially had him on my mind recently because I finally saw the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston a month or so ago. It was sad, but neat to see different aspects of his genius in footage from his earlier years.

I’m also a big fan of Jenny Hart, of course—I took an embroidery workshop with her a couple of years ago, and she was a great teacher and a huge inspiration to me when I was first thinking about publishing patterns. I love that she does so much collaboration with interesting artists and musicians.

Mushroom Clock

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Anna

This is a rough prototype for a working knitted clock that I made a long time ago.

mushroomclock1

The idea was that I would fit the knitting over some kind of box that contained a running clock on the inside, with the shaft and hands poking through a hole in the box and the knitting. For this version, though, I couldn’t find the right box, so I just used a sheet of plastic canvas for the front panel and the base, then stuffed the rest of the clock, and attached the battery-powered clock to the backside of the front canvas with lots of tape.

mushroomclock2

To prevent the hands from getting caught in the knitting, my dad sanded down these beatutiful cuckoo clock hands to be very thin. The clock works, but the hands did start catching on the dial every once in a while. And changing the battery when it finally dies will be an ordeal.

mushroomclock3

I still would love to create a series of knitted clocks, maybe for display at a show someday. But I would have to find the perfect box or other structure, and the perfect way to attach the knitting to the structure and the clock to the structure, and I would also have to find a clock with a still longer shaft.

For now, this one has been collecting dust on a shelf. But it’s nice to look at!

I Heart LYSs

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Anna

I’ve had quite a few new orders lately from yarn shops all the world over—including New Hampshire, NYC, France, and Australia—so I wanted to give a shout-out to the shops carrying Mochimochi Land patterns. Please check out the fine establishments in my stockists list and consider supporting a local small business by purchasing a printed version of a Mochimochi Land pattern along with your yarn.

If your LYS isn’t on the list, please introduce them to my designs!

Charting New Territory

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Anna

The Stackable Cats cross-stitch chart is coming along!

chartinginprogress

It seemed that we weren’t going be getting to the part where we learn how to make cross-stitch charts in my Illustrator class anytime soon, so I hunted around Ravelry and found a pretty thorough explanation of one method posted about a year ago by Marnie in the Designers group.

It’s a little tedious, but it definitely works, and maybe it will ultimately give me more control over the design in the end.

Once it’s finished, the chart will be available here! In the meantime, cross-stitchers should check out the fun 8-bit designs on Spritestitch, if it’s not already in your RSS.

Robyn Love’s Knitted City at Lion Brand

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Anna

Yesterday on Ravelry I got wind of Robyn Love’s new knitted city window display at the Lion Brand Studio on 15th street in NY. I must go see this in person!

The idea reminds me of my cities under attack by giant cute things, except way bigger and with more details like tiny cars and pigeons.

You can see more photos from the display at Robyn’s blog.

Passion Pit

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Anna

Just heard Passion Pit on the All Songs Considered podcast about upcoming SXSW performances. It’s happy—a bit reminiscent of The Postal Service, except I think it will take much longer to tire of Passion Pit.

This is “Sleepyhead” from their album Chunk of Change. (Best not to look directly at the video for long though, because it’s super dizzying.)

I think I read that they’re coming out with another album in May. Can’t wait!

Buggy Mobiles

Posted on March 12, 2009 by Anna

Spring just can’t come fast enough, am I right?

Until the temperature stays above 50 degrees for consecutive days, we’ll have to settle for warm thoughts and spring-like images, like this charming Snails and Slugs mobile made by Ravelry user colala.

I want one of these for my bedroom!

You can make your own Snails and Slugs with this free pattern on the Mochimochi Blog.

Kate Jeffery also recently finished an outdoorsy mobile of her own, with cute bugs!

As I mentioned last month, you can get Kate’s dragonfly pattern for free on Ravelry.