Category: Awesome Things

Brandi Simons is the Best!

Posted on by Anna

I’ve just had an amazing week working with Brandi Simons, my good friend and can-do photographer! We were working on photos for a super-exciting project, which I’ll have more to say about soon. But she also did all the beautiful photography for Knitting Mochimochi, and I couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out.

It was just about a year ago that she was hard at work taking the fun photos for the book. While she was working, I snapped a few quick shots, and I thought it would be fun to share a few of those pics here.

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Brandi was often lying flat on the ground to get the perfect shot. Here her husband Mike holds the reflector while their neighbor Loren pushes an lawn mower dangerously close to knitted mushrooms!
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Brandi shooting in her daughters’ playroom. It gets great light!

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Brandi is also a mom to two beautiful girls, Sonnie and Sarah, both of whom are great helpers. Sonnie has been a fabulous model for us, and Sarah is an inspiring muse.

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I just can’t say enough about how great Brandi is and how amazing her photography skills are. Her main focus has been photojournalism, but she also does fabulous portrait, wedding, and sports photography. If you’re looking for a photographer in Oklahoma, she is just the best!

Where Lawn Gnomes Are Born

Posted on by Anna

I’m spending this week with my family in Oklahoma, for pleasure and also for a fun kind of business—more toy photography with the talented Brandi Simons!

Now that I live far away, it’s fun to return and discover new things in the Tulsa area that I’d never known about. Like the Skiatook Statuary, where I went with my dad the other day. It seems that if you have a lawn statue or fountain, it’s not unlikely that it came from this place. Even if you live in Russia, apparently!

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It’s difficult to capture the size of the place or the number of statues on the grounds, but it is extensive. Cute, tacky, creepy, basket-y—they’ve got it all.

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Gnomes abound, of course.

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There was so much, and every type of statue came in so many different variations, that it was hard to focus on any particular one for long, and absolutely impossible to see them all. But my pick for most creepy-cute was this bunny bench.

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And the ugliest thing I could find was this fountain, which might be specially designed to keep solicitors away.

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I could have spent a couple of hours looking at everything, but there were Mother’s Day gifts to shop for. (Tragically, none of the Skiatook statues fit the bill.)

Why Does the Sun Shine?

Posted on by Anna

Last year They Might Be Giants released a cool new video for Why Does the Sun Shine?, which is on their new kids’ album Here Comes Science. The video was animated by Hine Mizushima, who makes the most amazing needle-felted creatures. (You can see her work in Lost at Sea next week.)

So much fun!

I was listening to an old Radiolab podcast the other day, and they pointed out that this song, which was originally written in the ’60s, is a bit inaccurate because the sun is a plasma and not a gas. Oh well—it still rocks.

Anna Sui Giveaway!

Posted on by Anna

I was doing some organizing this weekend and came across some little goodies that I got at the Anna Sui show at Bryant Park a couple of months ago. Since several of you have commented that you like Anna Sui, I thought I would do a little giveaway!

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Let’s see what we’ve got here… some cute buttons, samples of cologne and eye shadow, and the thing in the black pouch can remain a surprise. Just leave a comment on this post if you would like to get these goodies, and I’ll randomly select a winner at the end of the week!

Mochimochi Yarn!

Posted on by Anna

How cool is this: Rhichard at Koigu created a colorway especially for Mochimochi Land! It’s not every day that someone designs a special variegated yarn just for me, so I was thrilled when this package arrived of my doorstep the other day.

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I think there’s something very optimistic about this colorway, which I love. It’s definitely special enough to warrant a new toy—any ideas?

If you’re not familiar with Koigu, they make a wonderful sock yarn that comes in brilliant colors (I’ve used it to make many of my Tiny Things), and you can find it in many yarn stores.

Thank you, Rhichard!

Hearts for Haiti at Churchmouse

Posted on by Anna

I just received happy news from from Churchmouse Yarns & Teas in Bainbridge Island, Washington, who last month sponsored a “Hearts for Haiti” charity fundraiser to help the earthquake victims in Haiti. They offered a collection of hand-knitted hearts (made from my free pattern) for people to purchase with all proceeds to be donated to Partners in Health. The event raised almost $1,200!

Annabella was nice enough to send over a couple of photos from the fundraiser.

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She said there were bowls filled with little knitted hearts all over the shop. Cute!

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It’s so inspiring to see knitters working together to help a very worthy cause, in a very fun way. Certainly when I designed the little pattern in 2007 I had no idea of the potential it had in the hands of others.

If you are interested in using any of my patterns to help raise money for a good cause, please email me at info [at] mochimochiland [dot] com.