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🏆 Winners of the 2022 Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest 🏆

Posted on by Anna

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The results are in!

One of the BEST things about designing little knitted toys is when I get to see fellow knitters from all over (that’s you!) use Mochimochi Land patterns to create their own characters with original personalities and stories.

When we have a contest, it’s a special opportunity to experiment and have fun with those stories. For the 2022 Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest, many of you picked up your needles—and your lights and cameras—with results that were hilarious, sweet, and awesome. Thank you to all the creators who contributed to this year’s contest!

The theme was Sharing is Caring. Now, let’s take a look at the exciting winners!

Continue reading “🏆 Winners of the 2022 Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest 🏆” →

It’s Tori time!

Posted on by Anna

Just in time for your end-of-summer tiny knitted dinosaur needs, the pattern for Tori the Tiny Triceratops is now available as a PDF download 🦕💕

Tori is cute as a fossilized button, and super quick to knit. Her pattern features the magic of simple yarnovers: little yarnover holes help with leg and horn placement, and more yarnovers give Tori her fabulous frill 🦚

Other techniques include I-cord and mattress stitch—video demos linked in the pattern will help you along the way.

The cute yellow Tori shown here was made with Hand Dyed Diva Homegrown Sock yarn in Limoncello, which gives her body some lovely variegation. Yarn scraps also work great!

Tori was super fun to design, and I hope you enjoy knitting her! And possibly knitting your own tiny dinosaur adventure park! (Tori, of course, is besties with Tina the Tiny T-Rex, also on my website 🦖)

Big thanks to my tech editor Marilyn Passmore, and test knitters Amanda, Brian, and Rikke for their help making this pattern as user-friendly as can be! ❤️

This pattern was originally published in the wonderful Knitrino app. If you bought the pattern in Knitrino and would like to get the PDF as well, you can email me for a discount code on the PDF.

You can find the pattern in my shop and also on Ravelry.

Photo + Video Contest update

Posted on by Anna

A couple of happy updates about the 2022 Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest!

First, due to Covid nonsense, the deadline has officially been extended to September 7th. You have so much time to finish your entries! (But get started now because September will be coming soon!)

And second, we have a new prize! Our top three winners will each receive a copy of Patty Lyons’ Bag of Knitting Tricks (featuring illustrations by Franklin Habit)!

This book is available for preorder right now—I can’t wait to have it in my hands!

That’s in addition to trophies made by yours truly, along with gift cards to the Mochimochi Shop.

See the full contest details on how to enter!

Summer Shipping Break

Posted on by Anna

UPDATE: Due to COVID-related travel delays, orders of physical goods will be shipped by 8/19

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It’s time for our annual summer shipping break! If you order something physical (books, kits, buttons, etc) from the shop around now, it will be shipped out by August 9th.

(Digital patterns don’t involve shipping, so there should be no disruption with those orders.)

We hope those of you in the northern hemisphere are having a good summer and staying cool!

Announcing the 2022 Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest

Posted on by Anna

UPDATE: Congratulations to our awesome winners!

UPDATE: Deadline extended! The new deadline for entries is September 7th!

UPDATE: Check out the Top Winners and the Bonus Award Winners from our 2020 contest for inspiration!

That’s right, The Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest is back for another summer of knitting cute Mochimochi Land characters and making them do cute and weird stuff!

The theme this year: Sharing is Caring

Let’s celebrate being together and the things we like to share: ideas, snacks, a contagious yawn… there are many possibilities!

The top three winners will receive a handmade, one-of-a-kind Mochimochi Land trophy! They will be hand-made by me out of ceramic! Making them will be my own special summer challenge 😉

Eligibility

This contest is open to knitters worldwide who are 18 years or older.* To be eligible, your photo series or video must contain at least one knitted toy made from a Mochimochi Land pattern. This can be a pattern from the Mochimochi Shop, a pattern from one of the Mochimochi books by Anna, or one of the free patterns on the Mochimochi Blog. The pattern may be modified, but not beyond recognition from the original design. (The use of Photoshop is OK, and other toys/characters, including other knitted toys, are welcome to appear in your photos or video too!)

Categories

Like last time, we’ll have three main categories, photo series, short video and super short video. As always, we’re looking for your cutest, most creative photos and videos of Mochimochi Land toys! (We prize originality over “professional” quality entries.)

PHOTO SERIES is a series of 3-10 photos. This should be a short sequence showing an unfolding action with or without “dialog” or captions.

SHORT VIDEO is a video that’s at least 20 seconds long, and up to 2 minutes long. It can be puppetry or stop-motion animation. Make a Mochimochi movie! Please avoid making this a slideshow of photos.

SUPER SHORT VIDEO is a video or animated GIF under 20 seconds long. It can be puppetry or stop-motion animation, Again, please avoid making this a slideshow of photos.

Note that we’re looking for humor, cuteness, and originality—not necessarily the most professional-looking photos and videos. We want everyone to enter! Need some inspiration? Check out the winners from our 2020 contest. They’re fantastic!

PLEASE NOTE: We may share/repost any photos or videos entered into the contest on social media, the Mochimochi Land newsletter, or on the Mochimochi Land website, but only with credit and only in relation to promoting the contest (no commercial use).

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How to enter

PHOTO SERIES: There are three ways to enter a photo series. Please choose just one platform, and enter up to three series of 3-10 photos each.

1) Post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #mochiphotocontest22. Post the photos together in one post if possible, or title and number each photo in the captions if posting separately.

2) Post your photos to the Mochimochi Land Facebook page with the hashtag #mochiphotocontest22. Post the photos together in one album.

3) If you can’t or don’t wish to use social media to enter (understandable if your accounts are private), you can send your photos as an email attachment to info@mochimochiland.com with the subject PHOTO CONTEST ENTRY.

SHORT VIDEOS (20 seconds to 2 minutes long) and SUPER SHORT VIDEOS (under 20 seconds): Enter up to 3 videos in each category. Here’s how to enter a video.

1) Post your video to Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #mochiphotocontest22. (Make sure your post is PUBLIC.)

2) Post to GIPHY (if it’s a GIF) or a video site like YouTube or Vimeo. After posting your video, please email a link to the video to info@mochimochiland.com with the subject line VIDEO CONTEST ENTRY. Please do NOT send the video as an attachment.

Deadline

The last day to enter the contest is September 7th, 2022. We’ll announce the finalists shortly thereafter here on the blog and all the socials. (Follow me on Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates!)

Prizes!

We’ll pick one top winner in each of the three categories. And the prizes will be a bit different this year! As suggested by a clever knitter, I will be attempting to craft handmade trophies for the winners. They’ll probably be ceramic, but we’ll see what happens with that. It’s my own creative challenge for the summer. 😉 Each winner will also receive a gift card to Mochimochimochi Land, and probably other fun stuff too!

Needles ready? Cameras set? Let’s GO!

* “Family” entries involving creative kids are welcome!

Share the love

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!

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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.