This is a first attempt at making a little mochi ball, modeled after the mochis at the top of this page.
I was hoping for puffier cheeks, which turned out to be much more of a challenge than I had expected. The shiny plastic eyeballs make it cute enough, but then I think these little beady eyes could make a pile of tangled yarn look cute if you just stuck them on top.
I’ll keep working on this one – with any luck, it will reappear in a better form as the next free Mochimochi Land pattern.
I received the loveliest email the other day from Lisa, a mom of two who lives in New Zealand.
She told me about her music group for preschoolers that she runs called Tunes for Tots, and she sent me this adorable photo:
I can’t get over how cute these kids are sitting in boxes.
Lisa said that the parents in the group knit each child a special toy for his or her birthday. What a great thing for every kid to get a handmade toy! She also mentioned that the she is planning on knitting up some grass to use as props in some of their songs. I love this idea too!
As I mentioned to Lisa, I hope that my patterns (most of them, at least) can appeal to both children and adults, so her email made me very happy.
Thank you to Lisa for sharing her great story!
An important side note – when knitting a toy for a small child, please make sure you follow all safety precautions.
I got this t-shirt in Japan a couple of weeks ago.
It’s from a store called Graniph that I love. They’re always chock-full of t-shirts with designs by the most cutting-edge artists from around the world, and this time, I was happy to find that some (not all) of their shirts were made of a softer material than usual. My pink purchase is one of these soft ones, and features a design by German artist Jon Frickey. Kinda cute, kinda scary – I love it.
And I just learned that Reed Space in New York is carrying Graniph tees for a limited time. Cool!
Evil Science Chick whipped up this test of my Evolving Punk pattern in no time!
Hello, primordial cutie! Great choice of color, no?
The pattern is coming soon to the Mochimochi Land shop. Thank you, ESC!
It was a little overcast today.
The raindrops are strung up in pairs, so their lengths are adjustable.
I’m thinking about Rainycloud as a name.
Update 5/3/07: Yay CRAFT blog! Thank you for another mention, Natalie!
I was thrilled to have my Sleepy Snake & Mischievous Mouse featured on the CRAFT blog and Softies Central! Thank you to both of them!
If you’re visiting my site via either of these links, or if you’re just curious, the pattern will be available soon in my shop. (It’s being tested as we speak!)
If you would like to sign up on my mailing list and receive email notices when new patterns are available, please send an email to info [at] mochimochiland [dot] com.
Update 5/1/07: I am so unbelievably psyched that Boing Boing picked up on my silly Snake and Mouse too! Of course, what better time for my server to go down for most of the day?
To finish up my gushy Japan posts (at least for a while), I have to feature some crafty goodness. Some of these items may turn into presents, so if you’re my mother-in-law, STOP READING NOW. Everyone else, enjoy!
Craft shops in Japan are a little harder to find than you might expect. But when you find them, watch out. The famous Yuzawaya in Kamata (southern Tokyo) is virtually its own town, comprised of 11 buildings and a giant Knitting Ram clock.
Every town should be so lucky.
I also discovered a new crafting store in Nagoya’s Sakae shopping district, which I imagine is like the Fifth Avenue of Cleveland, whatever that might be.
Now for some show-and-tell:
A set of adorable “Animal Complex” fabric – five sweet little swatches. Now is really the time to take up sewing.
Crafty, semi-evil-looking bunnies. Note the one full-bodied bunny in the bottom left corner. Score!
Giraffe, baby chick, and bullet train patches.
A nuigurumi kitty kit that I will make. Believe it or not, this will be my first felt toy. Hope I’m ready to make it in Japanese. Results soon, hopefully.
And my personal favorite:
This ribbon reminds us how proud we should be of our accomplishments in sitting. Of course, if most of my (non-English-speaking) Japanese friends were to tell you what this ribbon reads, it would be a different story entirely.
And now that it’s really springtime, I should probably go out and do something in New York.
… is the glorious sound of the crank being turned in a capsule toy machine. Much to my delight, there are whole stores dedicated to these humble contraptions in Japan. Kind of like a present-day automat for obsessive plastic toy collectors.
We fortuitously happened upon this tiny kacha-kacha store in Shibuya last week. It was just big enough for a few dozen capsule machines, a change machine, and one guy behind a curtain who read manga and handed out plastic bags to anyone who asked. (I asked.)
It was absolutely packed with kacha-kachas, each pregnant with glistening capsules containing a different series of toy.
The store included an entire collection of Hello Kitty goods, which came in their own special Hello Kitty capsules. Awww….
Some “gets”:
Kapibara-san was everywhere, of course. This little cell phone strap bobble is about as big as the tip of my pinky finger.
Characters from the series Robin and his 100 Friends from Pansonworks. (Robin is on the left.) At this time, there are only 7 of Robin’s friends that you can collect. Maybe more will come? Oh, and I just realized that the bases can be connected together – cool!
This wrinkled mushroom is a Nintendo DS case. My husband’s pretty excited about it.
And these sweet little Unazuki nesting dolls from Rainbow Spice are my favorites at 300 yen for one set. Now I’m kicking myself for just getting 2 of the 4 sets! Notice the very nice printing.
Kacha-kacha-kacha-kacha-kacha-kacha-kacha….