A couple of anniversaries slipped by me last year, so I wanted to take a moment to recognize them before I forgot about them entirely!

First up is The Gnome Genome Project, a 2015 solo show of my gnome-themed knitted work at Everyday Mooonday, a beautiful gallery in Seoul.

This show was a huge undertaking, and a dream of an opportunity to share my world with people on the other side of the globe—and it all happened thanks to gallery owner Diny Lee.

The Gnome Genome project had me mining my psyche for all associations with knitting and gnomes, and the end result comprised a classic tabletop vision of Mochimochi Land, giant gnomes with lilliputian climbers, a community gnome knitting and distribution project, various other gnome sculptures and experiments, and a loop of some of my stop-motion animations.

I was also newly pregnant while installing it (with lots of help from my husband, John). So the memories are a bit foggy, but I recall working very hard, being very unsure whether I could pull it all off, and feeling very happy when it all became real.

Perhaps you contributed gnomes to this project?

Right after I posted that look back at Greetings from Mochimochi the other day, I realized that this anniversary also meant that my first book, Knitting Mochimochi, is also ten years old this year!

Creating my first book was a ton of work and a ton of fun, especially the Tulsa photo shoots with Brandi Simons.

Confused Moose: This photo shoot involved getting little knitted birds wet—fun!

Tiny Pencil: Second professional manicure in my life for this photo! (The first was for prom.)

Baby Gators: This is still one of my all-time favorite Mochimochi Land photos… Actually several from this book are all-time favorites!

Here’s me with my sister, Leah, during the first photo shoot for the muff. We decided to reshoot it later with two models instead of one, but I’m glad Brandi thought to snap this picture of Leah and me.

The cutie in the middle is a high school senior now! Myself and fellow model Mike Simons (Brandi’s husband) haven’t aged a bit.

Posing Cuter Polluters in a big chunky necklace I got a thrift store in Tulsa while I was there.

I have a lot of photos of Brandi flat on the ground, trying to get the perfect angle. She’s such a professional!

And she’s a wonderful mother!

So many photos in this book (and other books) were shot in Brandi’s girls’ playroom. It got the best light! Incidentally, my kids’ room also gets the best light in the house we live in now, so I occasionally sneak in to take pictures there too.

I learned so much in the process about designing, writing, editing, and photography. And the feeling of holding a copy in my hands for the first time was one of those big life experiences that I’ll remember forever.

My style has changed a bit since 2010, but I still love so many of the patterns in this book, and I’m happy that people are still knitting from it. You can find it on a lot of websites (also as an ebook), and I keep a stock of signed copies here.

Mochimochi Land has now been a thing for 10 whole years! While I’m taking care of a newborn and not getting much knitting done for a little while, I thought I’d share some highlights from a decade of Mochimochi Land.

It’s October! A good time to pay tribute to my all-time most popular knitting pattern, Boo the Bat!

Boo debuted in fall of 2008, so this little funny creature has been on the scene for a whole nine years now, and it tickles me that Boos continue to pop up on the internet on a monthly basis.

As of this posting, there are 1,130 Boos listed on Ravelry, which means there are at least a few thousand more hanging out somewhere. Here are a few new kids on the block, via Ravelry.

Top row:
SpringPeeper’s Bitty Bat, tzipporahfeiga’s Boo, knitjvf70’s Brown Bat, eLoomator’s Boo Bats
Middle row:
schicken’s Boo, LateClematis’ Hi said the little leather-winged bat, Jayannell’s Rosita, Elly22’s Bats
Bottom row:
mimulus’ CutieBoo, co314’s Batty-nuggets, Practicalmagic’s Boo the Bat, Serine23’s Batty

I always love seeing how diverse they all are! The personality knitters can pack into one small bat represents to me the beauty of all handmade toys.

And because we’re looking back at 10 years of Mochimochi Land, here are some notable Boos from previous years.

Top row (from left to right):
lazydayartifacts’ Boo the Bat, BreiKonijn’s Boo the Bat 4, okate’s 2014 Ornament Swap, Kristysnowedin’s 2,Bats
Middle row:
gizmonic’s Boo the Bat, wojostitches’ Bats!, mimulus’ Baby boo, knittergoddss’ Boo the Bat
Bottom row:
ljsheppard’s Boo, Azashenya’s CCW 9, Triestina’s Boo Bat, Aelys’ Boo the Bat

Top row (from left to right):
MarleenS’s Vleermuisje, laulaula’s Boo the W, roblingt’s Trevor, LiddyLee’s Boo the Bat, bioniclaura’s Bats About You
Middle row:
SlpBeauty’s I Didn’t Know They Did it All with Rubber Bands!, Prana451’s Batty!, tinypurrs’ Pink Moon Bat, blueangelfish83’s Bat mobile, angrymeerkat’s Halloween wreath
Bottom row:
ClarkMelissa’s Boo the Bat, Julia123’s Boo-tiful Sparkles, SlpBeauty’s Boo!, ginskye’s Bat 1 and Bat 2, kerroknits’ Boo the Bat

Left to right, top to bottom: Boos by aranyita, PurpleIrisCrafts, CrochetAmy, iamkashi, Fios, kendraja, MissSophie, minkey, sleeplessnscandia, RueDeekins, okate, ImpEmberStar

If you haven’t knitted a Boo, it’s a pretty simple project that should take only a day or two to finish. The wings (which include a variation generously contributed by Carissa Browning) button up for those times when your bat is feeling shy, then can open wide for your bat to say BOO!

The pattern for Boo the Bat is available as a PDF download in my shop here and also in the Mochimochi Ravelry Store.

Mochimochi Land has now been a thing for 10 whole years! While I’m taking care of a newborn and not getting much knitting done for a little while, I thought I’d share some highlights from a decade of Mochimochi Land.

In 2011 the character art organization Pictoplasma asked me if I would like to be a part of their gallery walk for their upcoming NYC conference. My friends at gallery hanahou (which has since closed, sadly) graciously let me use their space, so about 5 months later the epic battle between gnomes and snowmen commenced!

The idea for this little knitted art exhibit began to germinate when I watched a documentary on British history that featured the Bayeux Tapestry, a truly epic weaving that tells the story of the 11th Century Norman invasion of Britain from start to finish in a linear fashion.

I remember watching that documentary and falling in love with this mode of tactile storytelling, and thinking to myself that it would be interesting to pit two much-beloved characters against each other, in ways both playful and also somewhat violent, and see how people felt about that.

There was a lot of knitting involved.

And a lot of mess in our small Brooklyn apartment.

Once I had about a 100 each of gnomes and snowmen (with knitting help for the snowmen provided by some awesome local knitters), I got to put together the scenes, which was great fun.

And it was the biggest thrill to have people show up at the opening and experience the cutest battle ever in Mochimochi Land!

If you missed it in the gallery, you may have seen a smaller version of Gnomes vs Snowmen at one of the Vogue Knitting LIVE shows over the past few years.

You can see more photos from the battle at my personal website.