Blog

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!

Free Pattern: Simply Sunflowers

Posted on by Anna

This pattern is free, and for its use I’m requesting a contribution to an organization that’s helping Ukrainians and refugees.
Here are some suggestions.

Sunflower of Peace

Voices of Children

Doctors Without Borders

Click or scroll down for the full pattern on my blog. You can also download the PDF version of this pattern via Ravelry.

Continue reading “Free Pattern: Simply Sunflowers” →

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on by Anna

via GIPHY

Well our leprechaun parade never really got started today, on account of the grand marshal getting stuck in his pot of gold. The situation is developing, as you can see!

But we DID have some wee Irish friends stop by today—swipe to see a peppy little leprechaun from Kim A…

…and a lucky crew from Gwen B.!

Kim and Gwen are both getting gift cards for the Mochimochi Shop for their participation. Keep tagging your Mochimochi Land creations with #mochimochiland so we can all see and enjoy!

☘️ Happy St. Paddy’s Day! ☘️

Join the Leprechaun Parade

Posted on by Anna

via GIPHY

How about we do something entirely silly for this up-and-down month of March: a leprechaun parade!

Make a leprechaun or “friend” from my Tiny Leprechaun and Friends pattern, and share it on Instagram with the hashtag #tinyleprechaunparade. I’ll gather the leprechauns next week for the tiniest St. Patrick’s Day parade.

🍀 You don’t have to buy the pattern to join in: my Good Luck Clover pattern is free and would make a happy parade participant too!

Should we have prizes in the parade? Gift cards for Best “Float” and other silly categories are a strong possibility!