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Lucky (or Splat?)

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Anna

Since I made it for the “Plush You” show at Schmancy last year, I’ve gotten a lot of inquiries about Squirrel-Infested Tree. I was happy to find that there was interest in a pattern, but since I made it as a one-of-a-kind toy, there is no pattern for it (and the toy has since been sold). But I love trees, especially less-than-happy trees, so I recently made another to be available as a pattern.

luckyorsplat

This is Lucky—or maybe Splat, I haven’t decided yet. He’s not having such a great day, but the birds tell him that to be pooped on is a sign of good luck. He’s not convinced.

Any preference on the name? Or if you have other name suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Good Stuff!

Posted on May 7, 2008 by Anna

I got an exciting newspaper clipping from my mom in the mail yesterday: recent police calls from my hometown newspaper! Mom had written “Good Stuff!” at the top, and had marked a full 17 of the calls in yellow highlighter to convey her enthusiasm for her fellow citizens’ less-than-shining moments.

My favorites:

10:55 a.m. — Reporting party advised that a subject was posing as a magazine salesman. Reporting party advised that the subject was asking questions such as do you have dogs in the house.

7:08 p.m. — Reparting party advised that two people came to his home looking for his son and said they were going to ‘take care of this’ at Red Robin

8:36 p.m. — Reporting party wants an officer to look at the bone that dog dug up.

12:52 a.m. — Police Department and Air Marshalls are training and air marshalls locked themselves out of their vehicle.

9:31 p.m. — Subject dressed as the Grim Reeper [sic] is chasing people around the parking lot.

Thanks for the laugh, Mom!

Grass En Français

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Anna

A landmark event just occurred in Mochimochi Land: a pattern has been translated into another language!

Christhalinette, a knitter in France, was inspired to make the pattern for Grass accessible to non-English-speaking French knitters. So she published a full translation on her blog!

The idea of translating my patterns into other languages actually hadn’t occurred to me much, but I love the thought of that many more people being able to make Grass. My three or so years of French in high school didn’t prepare me for reading knitting patterns in French, but I’m sure Christhalinette did a great job. Thank you Christhalinette!

I don’t know what it is about this particular pattern, but so far it has been altered for knitting in the round (unfortunately the blogger who did this shut down his blog, so if anyone wants to try again, please do!), modified for crochet, and translated into French. I can’t wait to see what’s next for it!

Stack Those Cats!

Posted on May 4, 2008 by Anna

I was lucky enough to have three fabulous testers help out with the Stackable Cats pattern, two of whom have shared their results with me!

Kounting Sheep made a darling trio of musically-inclined cats…

… stacked just high enough for the littlest one to reach those piano keys!

And Hannah of BitterSweet chose beautiful shades of blue for her “column of kittens.”

Love them!

Thank you to you both, and also to Marti for your help with the pattern!

Kewpie is the New Hello Kitty

Posted on May 2, 2008 by Anna

I was disheartened to find on my Japan trip that Tarako Kewpie seems to be no more. The doll dressed up as a nasty fish egg condiment that had taken the country by storm just one year ago had gone the way of Dango Sankyoudai.

But there is good news! As the ad I blogged about a earlier this month indicated, Kewpies have morphed into a Hello Kitty-like blank canvas ubiquitous to all department stores, kiosks, and souvenir shops.

Though Tarako Kewpie is gone, we now have Mushroom Kewpie and Beer Kewpie, among hundreds of other variations. You can even get Kewpies dressed up as popular anime characters.

mushroombeerkewpie

The craft mecca Yuzawaya now has a whole wall of naked Kewpies in multiple sizes for people to dress up as their food or beverage of choice.

yuzawayakewpie

I suppose you can also get these in the U.S., but it seems that the Japanese have claimed Kewpie as their own. Could it make a comeback here?

Please do it at home.

Posted on April 30, 2008 by Anna

I’d almost forgotten about this odd poster, which we were seeing all over the Tokyo subway stations a couple of weeks ago.

doitathome

The English is an accurate translation of the Japanese—it’s just…pretty strange. (Right?) If you look closely, you’ll see that it adds “please share your seat with others” at the bottom. Seems like they could have just stuck with that line.

Let’s Stack Some Cats!

Posted on April 29, 2008 by Anna

Yes, the Stackable Cats are finally here! This simple pattern includes three sizes for maximum stacking fun. Techniques include provisional cast on, knitting in the round on double-pointed needles, short rows and mattress stitch.

Buy the pattern as a PDF download here!

Update: Thanks so much to both Kristen at Plush You and Michelle at CRAFT for announcing the Stackable Cats!

Paper Earrings

Posted on April 28, 2008 by Anna

My jewelry-designer friend Audrey recently made the most beautiful pair of earrings out of handmade Japanese paper and sterling silver.

I love how they look so incredibly light—the use of the paper is just inspired. (Now if only I wore earrings…)

The earrings are part of her collection, which can be found in her Etsy shop. (I also blogged about her shop when she opened it last year.) Audrey specializes in mixing industrial and natural materials with traditional elements of fine jewelry. The result is beautiful designs that balance strength and delicacy.

I think her jewelry would make an awesome Mother’s Day gift for a hip kind of mom!