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Posted on by Anna

UPDATE: With your help we raised $156 over the weekend with this little fundraiser! All went to Brave Space Alliance. Thank you!

via GIPHY

I’ll be donating all proceeds from PDF pattern sales this weekend (through 6/19) to Brave Space Alliance in honor of Pride 🏳️‍🌈 (Click on their name to learn more about all the great stuff they’re doing for Chicago’s trans community!)

This rainbow hug went through a couple of different versions as I was trying to figure out how to express the radiance of their love. You can see them in my latest Instagram post.

Knit Stars Season 7 shoot is a wrap!

Posted on by Anna

Last week I finished up my big 2-day Knit Stars Season 7 shoot! It was INTENSE—I’ve never had the opportunity to teach so much and so thoroughly before! Plus the interview and all the b roll for the “yarn story” intro were so fun—I’m excited to bring knitters into my world like never before. They even got footage of me working with clay! And animating! And looking thoughtfully at a mural in my neighborhood 🤔😂

Huge thanks to Brad, Shelley, Teresa, and everyone at Knit Stars for this wonderful experience! And to Kristine for being the best assistant! I’m so looking forward to seeing the results and all the other Season 7 stars’ courses 😆

Would you like to see my official project??

This is The Squeezable Kingdom! A cuddly castle and a cast of characters to live in him. My Knit Stars course will cover EVERYTHING that goes into knitting this project, plus tips on creating customized characters, a segment on animating your knitting, and a lifestyle segment that will give you a look into my glamorous knitted toy life here in Chicago.

Enrollment for Knit Stars will be open again in the fall. For now, you can learn more about it and get on the waitlist to sign up via my affiliate link.

I’m teaching in Knit Stars Season 7!

Posted on by Anna

UPDATE: The Earlybird enrollment period is over, but you can still learn more about Knit Stars and sign up to be notified when enrollment is open again in the fall.

I’m thrilled to tell you that I’ll be teaching alongside 10 other designers and instructors in Knit Stars Season 7 this fall!

Knit Stars is a collection of online workshops (BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED online workshops), so you can join from wherever you are in the world, on your own time. (The content is yours to access forever.)

Of course, I’ll be teaching all about knitting toys! And I’ll be doing so with an all-new, Knit Stars-exclusive project: I can’t reveal what it is yet, but it’s an interactive toy, and one of my favorite patterns to date. Plus, you’ll get the classes from the other amazing teachers, each with their own fascinating area of knitting expertise to share. All of the details from this season are on the enrollment page.

The above is an affiliate link, which means if you sign up, I’ll get a commission—which is a great way to support your favorite designers. Thank you!

There’s a special Earlybird rate right now, which is $30 lower than the usual Knit Stars Masterclass Event rate. This one-time rate is only good through April 29th, so now is the best time to join!

Also! There’s a free Zoom session happening TOMORROW (4/24) where you can hang out with me and the other Season 7 stars, plus you’ll find out which “Star Dyer” I’m partnering with for kits for my project. Sign up now!

I hope to see you among the stars…in Season 7! ✨

Inflation animations for the Washington Post

Posted on by Anna

The Washington Post (!) recently asked me to make a series of six short stop-motion animations visualizing what’s happened with inflation in the U.S. since early 2020, for an interactive piece by Damian Paletta. I said yes!

The project was an absolute blast to work on, and a terrific challenge with all the air physics involved, plus a tight deadline.

The resulting piece requires a subscription to view, but you can also see the animations in this Instagram post.  

Here are a couple of my lovely sketches based on the concept from the art director.

As you might imagine, making a balloon shrink and expand and float took some movie magic. By “magic,” I mean it was a lotta lotta DPNs to erase in Photoshop.

Here’s a wider behind-the-scenes look at my set. This shows my attempt to light everything to the best of my abilities.

Of course, I had to make a bunch of characters and props in a short amount of time for this project. Fortunately, they were all tiny and quick to design and make.

And there were quite a few things I didn’t have to design from scratch: the sun, the original-sized balloon, and the clouds are from my book Adventures in Mochimochi Land. Plus, a (modified) Bluebird of Crappiness stood in as Fed chairman Jerome Powell!

Big thanks to Emily Wright for hiring me for this dream project!