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Merry Christmas! (Anybody use the elf tags?)

Posted on by Anna

I usually go into Christmas with a little trepidation, but emerge on the other side with much joy. That’s more or less what happened this year.

Now that most of the organized festivities are over, I’ve been catching up on some online happenings, and I noticed that Lime & Violet gave my Mochimochi Elves gift tags a mention yesterday on their blog. So nice!

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If you used the tags, I would love to hear about it (even if your recipient was puzzled by the strange creatures on their gift). I don’t know how many people downloaded them, so it would be neat to get some kind of feedback.

I’ll likely be internet-free over the next couple of days. Enjoy those holiday leftovers!

Extremely Disappointing Botan Rice Candy Stickers

Posted on by Anna

Botan Rice Candy is a delicious and mysterious treat. The yummy chewy orangey-flavored candy is a product of Japan, but I’ve only ever seen it Asian food stores in the US, and never in Japan. Also, the inside wrapper (but not the outside!) is made of rice and edible.

But my favorite thing about Botan Rice Candy has always been the funny sticker that is a free prize in each box. In the past, I’ve usually gotten an illustration of something generically charming, like an athlete of some kind or an animal. (See the examples printed on the box.) Lame, yes, but in a cute way.

I’m extremely disappointed in the sticker prizes I received today in my two boxes of Botan Rice Candy from the Sunrise Market in Soho.

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????

I am at a loss as to what to do with these stickers. My husband thinks they’re awesome, of course. Anyway, Merry Christmas!

Campy

Posted on by Anna

You might not know it from following my blog, but I have been knitting toys nonstop over the past year, and I now have a big stockpile of new toys. I have plans for most of them and there are reasons that I haven’t posted them on the blog, but there are a few that I have no immediate plans for, and it seems like kind of a waste to not at least give them their one minute 13 seconds of fame (the average time people spend on my website, according to Google Analytics). Like this little campfire here.

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I think I lost my draft of the pattern for it when my hard drive crashed back in August, but I could probably recreate it at some point. Aside from Campfire kids and serious campers, though, who wants a knitted campfire? Maybe I should introduce him to a marshmallow.

Knitted Toys from Neat Designers

Posted on by Anna

It’s been my pleasure to get to know some talented knitters over the past couple of years that I’ve had my website up. Many of them design toys of their own, so I thought I’d post a few of my favorites as last-minute gifts. All of the below patterns are available online, so all you need is a trip to your yarn stash or maybe the local yarn store (because you were going there anyway) to get started.

For an inventor or anyone in need of a bright idea:

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Bright Spark the Light Bulb by Kate Jeffery
Available as a free download on Ravelry.

For the musician in your life:

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Guitar by Katie Park
Available on Etsy or Ravelry.

For your hipster friends or great-aunt who still collects owls:

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Horned Owl by Hansi Singh
Available on Etsy or Ravelry.

For Australo-philes or kiwi fruit fans:

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Crazy Kiwi Bird by Hannah Kaminski
Free on her blog.

For anyone who likes silly monsters (that’s everyone!):

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mmmmm by Joan De Lurio
Available on Etsy or Ravelry.

That should just about cover everybody on your list, right? If not, you might check out the patterns in my own shop and the freebies on my blog.

Happy holiday knitting!

Two Funny Toys

Posted on by Anna

I was lucky enough to be able to attend both of the plush-making workshops that we recently held at gallery hanahou in conjunction with Luv-able + Hug-able!

The first workshop was led by the Ossu! Syugeibu “crafting club” from Tokyo, who encourage people to craft without patterns or any skill whatsoever. We made funny creatures out of socks, somewhat a la Sock and Glove but without stuffing and with a mouth opening. Mine turned out to be a type of bear with a bow tie.

Here he is gagging on his hand.

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The idea is that the toy will change shape depending on what kinds of objects you put in its mouth, but I kind of like my guy floppy.

The second workshop was the Jenny Harada workshop last Saturday, in which Jenny led us in making silly Elf Chums! This is the second workshop I’ve taken with Jenny. She’s a very patient teacher, especially when I’m attempting to sew things on the inside of my toy.

Here you see my Elf Chum (on the left) next to two of Jenny’s. (Her furry brown one is still my favorite.)

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And here you see it with his cousin Bjornzi, a plush in Luv-able + Hug-able that I bought at the opening and have yet to bring home:

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Both my red bear and my little elf have moved in with me, but neither of them have names. Any suggestions?

Update: Jenny’s Elf Chum pattern is now available in PDF form in her Etsy shop. So go make your own!

Santa Snail and Santa Slug

Posted on by Anna

I was happy to see that Whipup blogged about my free Snails and Slugs pattern last week as a “simple gift” for the holidays. This inspired me to make them just a bit more festive.

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The tiny Santa hats are very simple to make.

With white fingering-weight sock yarn, cast on 9 sts onto 3 size 1 or 2 dpns, and join in a rnd.
Purl one rnd.
Switch to red sock yarn, and knit 2 rnds.
Next rnd: [k2tog, k1] 3 times (6 sts)
Knit 2 more rnds, then break yarn and draw through sts with a tapestry needle.

For pom pom, thread white yarn through top of hat several times, crisscrossing over the six stitches that you pulled together to close the end. (I made more of these stitches on the hat on the left for a bigger pom pom.)

Weave in loose ends, and now you have a Santa topper for your Snail or Slug!

Couture Cross Stitch

Posted on by Anna

This has been a nice break from endless knitting, started over the Thanksgiving holiday.

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My awesome mother-in-law Bonney gave me the chart, which was created by Kyoko Maruoka, aka Gera. Her designs are way cuter than most traditional cross stitch.

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(My finished cross stitch will hopefully resemble the above in the end.)

Outside of Japan, you can get them from superbuzzy. But this cute Japanese import doesn’t come cheap—it’s$17.95 for just the charts to the above design, NOT a kit. No wonder Bonney thought she was getting kits, and ordered multiples of the same design! Well, at least I’m getting full enjoyment out of this project.

Highballs for All

Posted on by Anna

I seem to be on a ’90s music kick lately. Well, here’s one more. But this time it’s new to me!

coctailsThe Coctails made playful lounge-y music in Chicago in the early ’90s, which I discovered recently when I should have been working or maybe sleeping. The collection of their early works contained on the Early Hi-Ball Years album is actually an eclectic mix of sounds from different genres and eras throughout the 20th century—it’s mostly light on vocals and heavy on vibraphone and sax, but there are some exceptions. One of my favorite exceptions is “Jobless,” a very catchy little song that stops abruptly after 58 seconds.

Later in the ’90s, the Coctails changed their sound to more closely resemble something like Pavement, which is fine, but less interesting to me than their earlier groove.