Category: Awesome Things

Websites as Toys

Posted on by Anna

It seems like the internet is getting more powerful every day, which is cool, but also scary, right? I think that’s why I find extremely simple, possibly useless websites to be so attractive. The art/design website The Fox is Black recently introduced me to some of these sites (which they called “single-serving sites“), and I’m thinking this could be a very deep rabbit hole indeed.

If you have a few spare seconds, click on the below to see some of my favorites.

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I think we’re pretty used to silly “toy” apps by now (sound effect apps come to mind), but there’s something really bold about a whole website built upon one simple concept. Websites can do so much, yet these do so little.

I have one more for you—a simple idea, but mind-blowing nevertheless. Take a virtual stroll through any random place in the world…

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As many different things as the internet is becoming, I love that it’s also becoming a place for some of us to create new forms of art and play and for the rest of us to enjoy the results.

Knitting Mochimochi Now in Spanish and Dutch

Posted on by Anna

While I was feeling a little un-inspired (and maybe also a tiny bit sorry for myself) on Friday, a package of happiness arrived: Spanish and Dutch editions of my first book, Knitting Mochimochi!

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I had heard that the Dutch version had been in the works, but I had no idea the title would include as fun a word as knuffels. Knuffels! According to sources on Twitter, the word means both “stuffed animal” and “hug.” Simply the best word in any language period.

Amigurumi de Punto Mochimochi was a complete surprise, and a very welcome one! It appears to be intended for the market in Spain, but I’m hoping it will find its way to other Spanish-speaking countries too.

With the Swedish version, that makes four languages that this book is available in. Next, the wooooorrrld!

At Home in Chicago

Posted on by Anna

I can’t describe how great it feels to be in what feels like a home after two weeks of being in that strange in-between state of transition. Let me show you where I now live and work!

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Isn’t it adorable?!? Like in Brooklyn, we’re living in an apartment, so the whole thing isn’t ours, but it’s still way more space than John and I have ever lived in.

Most of the apartment is pretty standard (although we have a kitchen island! such luxury!), but I wanted to at least show off my new office.

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You can no longer touch the bed from my desk! The bedroom is a completely different room! I’m feeling so spoiled by this new way of life. (Soupy is trying to claim the office as his own and push me back in the bedroom, but I’m determined to win this one.)

And I now have a little place to put knickknacks!

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This calls for the buying of new knickknacks, which I haven’t done in a long time. (I’m headed to Rotofugi soon to do just this.)

And what does Nipsey think of all this?

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Nipsey still has his tattered old scratching post, so Nipsey is all good.

Since we’ve been busy getting settled in (and the weather has been COLD), I’ve just barely started exploring my new neighborhood, much less the broader city. So, Chicagoans, I would love any tips or recommendations for favorite places to go, things to do, etc!

A Poem by Gritty Lou

Posted on by Anna

If you’re a regular reader of the Mochimochi Blog, you may have occasionally seen comments made by someone named “Gritty Lou.” She never gives herself away, but that’s my mom! (My dad, meanwhile, comments as “Dad.”)

I would be happy to let my mom go on commenting anonymously, but I just have to blow her cover because of something that she wrote in the comments to my post last week about Roland the Roly Poly. Inspired by the fun names for “roly poly” shared by commenters in other countries, she composed a poem.

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Hey, chuggy pig, slater, bichos de conta,
All over the world you do what you wanta.
Cloporte, dango mushi, ole potato bug,
At just a touch you roll up and give yourself a hug.
Whether bicho bola, sow bug, pill bug or woodlouse
I find you in my garden, on the porch and in the house!
But how can I complain when the kids find such delight
In watching roly polys become so round and tight.

Huge & Huggable Mochimochi (which Roland appears in) is dedicated to my parents, and I think you can see why they inspire me so much!

On Location in OK

Posted on by Anna

I’m in Oklahoma for the next couple of weeks for one of my favorite parts of my job: working with Brandi Simons on book photos!

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Just about one year ago we were driving all over the Tulsa area looking for the perfect spots to photograph the jumbo toys in Huge & Huggable Mochimochi. Sometimes (yes, more than once) a clean bathroom was all the location we needed. That’s Brandi with the camera; her friend Sheri is waiting for her closeup (she was an excellent model); and my sister Leah is helping with the reflector. Maybe you can guess what the project is?

I love taking snapshots of Brandi at work. We have so much fun on these shoots, and I want to remember what it was like behind the scenes of her great images. So I always try to take pics with my phone when I get a moment, although those moments pass by so quickly when I’m also trying to suggest angles, make adjustments to the toys, and check out the results at the same time.

Looking back at my iPhone photos, I’m remembering shoots that we did in all kinds of interesting places. It took a little negotiation, but we were able to do a shoot at an authentic local burger joint. I learned that greasy food and knitted toys aren’t an appetizing combination… but it was fun!

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Another location was a first-grade classroom. I haven’t stepped foot in an elementary school in years, and this really took me back to my early education days. (I didn’t go to this particular school, but a different one in the same town.)

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We also shot photos in a movie theater, in a library, in a used car that we had to get a grumpy antiques dealer to open for us, and in the middle of the street during rush hour. It was an exhausting and exhilarating two weeks, and I can’t wait for everyone to see the finished work.

THIS week and the next, Brandi and I will be shooting photos for another very exciting top-secret project (one that doesn’t involve crazy location scouting). I hope to share some behind-the-scenes photos on Twitter and Facebook as we work. I can’t wait to begin!

By the way, this trip means that I will ship all orders of physical goods (books, kits, buttons, etc.) on October 2nd when I return to NYC. (PDF pattern downloads will be unaffected.)

Let’s Knit Crazy Mittens

Posted on by Anna

Last week I got to spend a few beautiful days in New Hampshire, for a quick last-minute summer vacation. Lately when John and I visit his parents, we’ve been staying in Bonney’s epic yarn stash room.

Aside from this being the quietest room in the house (yarn makes great insulation, and this is rural New Hampshire, so there’s not much noise to begin with), I enjoy this room for the strange new knitting paraphernalia that I always find in it. Lately Bonney seems to be taken with creepy vintage puppet mittens!

This kit makes two “lucky puppets.” Apparently dead mice are lucky mice!

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What time is it, kids? It’s time to ponder how many nightmares were generated from these kits!

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More lucky puppets! I get the skunk, but no way am I buying the left one as “Wally the Whale.”

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And since when do skunk and whale make a nice pair of things to wear in the winter? Apparently whoever started on this kit agreed with me halfway through.

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Maybe you love puppet mittens. Maybe you can’t get enough of them. Maybe you need ten different designs!

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Actually I think these are awesome and I’m hoping Bonney will make me some.

Assorted Dehydrated Marshmallow Bits Project #1: S’mores Bars Party Style

Posted on by Anna

A couple weeks back I asked for ideas about what to make with 2 lbs of mini Lucky Charms-esque marshmallows, and I got some great suggestions in the comments. And now I’m reporting back with the first project!

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I’m calling this S’mores Bars Party Style. I followed Joy the Baker’s recipe for S’mores Icebox Candy Bars, suggested by Suzanne, and I just substituted the colorful marshmallows for the standard mini white variety. (That’s what makes it “party style.”)

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Note to self: Wax paper may not always be an OK substitute for parchment paper.

The results were interesting—not exactly delicious, but kind of addictive. I think this has less to do with marshmallows and everything to do with 3+ sticks of butter. If I hadn’t told our guests that these were supposed to be reminiscent of s’mores, I don’t think they would have gotten that. It actually could have used more marshmallows, although I felt like I used more than the recipe called for.

This might be ideal as a super-easy sleepover treat. It was also pretty great paired with gourmet ice cream. I’m calling it a moderate success.

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Thank you to Suzanne for her suggestion! I’d love to find more to make with my marshmallows. What should I make next? Let’s make the next project a little more out there!

Marshmallow Madness

Posted on by Anna

I have an unusual food problem right now. Actually, I’m using both the words “food” and “problem” very loosely: I have way too many marshmallows! But not the boring little white kind of marshmallows…

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…the colorful magical marshmallows that come in the shapes of hearts and moons and stars! (Also known as assorted dehydrated marshmallow bits.) I suddenly have thousands of these little pieces of sugar and artificial coloring (2.2 lbs of them, to be more precise). They arrived in the mail recently, sent to me from my mother-in-law Bonney. (She’s kind of known for amassing lots of her favorite things.) No explanation, just marshmallows.

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When I called Bonney to ask about her unusual gift, she reminded me of a story that I told her several years ago about how once when I was a kid I spent a couple of hours alone with a box of Lucky Charms and managed to consume every single marshmallow, leaving the “healthy” part of cereal largely uneaten. (Everyone likes hunting for treasure!) So it seems that Bonney found the marshmallows for sale in bulk at Cornerstone Country Market in Waterboro, Maine, and she thought it would make my day to have three bags of pure sugary joy all to myself. It was an exciting package to open for sure, but after munching on a handful, I remembered that I’m no longer 11 years old, and neither is my stomach.

So. Instead of giving them to a neighborhood kid (and making her or his Park Slope parents very unhappy), I’ve decided to have a Marshmallow Marathon Baking Challenge, hopefully with your help! Surely there are many possibilities for crazy fun baked goods and other desserts that these things can be used in, and I want YOUR ideas and recipes. So far the only idea I’ve come up with is rice crispy treats with marshmallows baked in, but that doesn’t seem especially innovative to me, because rice crispy treats already have marshmallow in them (albeit a pretty different kind of marshmallow), and also because I’d be making another marshmallow-and-cereal combo that is rather obvious.

I have a feeling that many of you are big into baking and cooking, so I would love to hear your ideas (or even full recipes) in the comments to this post! The sky is pretty much the limit, although I have a few things you should probably keep in mind:

– These marshmallows are softer than the crunchy, extra-dehydrated kind that come in Lucky Charms. But the size and flavor of them are the same.

– I’m a vegetarian, but not a vegan, so no meat (ew gross anyway), but eggs/milk/cheese are OK.

– I’m an average baker/cook, so I probably won’t attempt anything overly fancy or complicated, or that requires fancy/complicated equipment.

– I have edible projects in mind, but if you have a cool idea for a different kind of use for the marshmallows, please share that too!

I’d love to test out some suggestions and show you the results here on the blog!