I had the pleasure of making dinosaur-themed stop-motion videos with a great group of middle schoolers at the ELA Area Library in Lake Zurich, IL, on Saturday.
Most of the devices we were using weren’t connected to the internet, so unfortunately I don’t have finished projects to share, but you can see from the aftermath just how much creativity was going on!
The library currently has an impressive exhibit on dinosaurs—worth checking out if you’re in the area!
I’m excited to be returning to the Ann Arbor District Library for a stop-motion animation workshop!
Join me at the Ann Arbor District Library from 2-5pm on August 10th for an afternoon of stop-motion basics and hands-on experimentation. It’s a free workshop open to all ages! More info at the AADL website.
(PLUS: If you’re into TV history, John Teti (my husband) is giving a talk on the lesser-known game shows of Alex Trebek at the library the night before!)
Happy New Year! 2019 is starting off right, because we made it to 1,000 balls in the knit ball pit, hoorayyyyy!
This is how it looked this morning in the shiny new inflatable pit.
We’re actually at 1380 balls right now, with more packages yet to be opened, and with even more expected to be added at Vogue Knitting LIVE later this month in NYC. Whew! I’ll be happy to receive them all, and at this point I think we can say the knit ball pit will be big enough that we no longer need to ask for donations. Instead, anyone who would still like to get involved can donate money directly to the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, who will be distributing the balls after Vogue Knitting LIVE to some very special kids in Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Read more about this project at the original knit ball pit post. And follow me on Instagram for all the updates!
See you in NYC!
We’re up to 305 balls in the Knit Ball Pit!
That’s a lot of hand knitted and crocheted balls!
I’m hoping we can amass 1,000 balls by January 1st. Will you help us? Check out the Ravelry page for the pattern and a flyer that you can print and post in your LYS and/or hand out to your fiber-friendly friends.
If you’ll be at Vogue Knitting LIVE in NYC this January, you can bring your balls directly to the ball pit party. Then take a dip yourself! After VK LIVE, the balls will be donated to the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, who will send them to kids in Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.
Thank you to Cheers To Ewe! for sponsoring this project!
FINAL BALL COUNT: 2,383!!! PROJECT RECAP HERE!
JANUARY UPDATE! We have 1650 balls in the knit ball pit and it’s still growing! If you’d like to contribute, at this point I’d like to encourage you to donate funds directly to the American Foundation for Children with AIDS if you are able. And any future group projects will be announced here, on the newsletter, and on Instagram! Thank you for the balls, everyone!
UPDATE! Check out a chat with me and Tanya Weaver of AFCAids with the ladies of Cheers to Ewe on their Facebook Live show!
I said in my last post that it would be fun to do a big crazy group project, so…
Mochimochi Land is going to Vogue Knitting LIVE in NYC this January, and we want to make a splash with a whole ball pit full of knitted mochimochi balls!
After Vogue Knitting LIVE, the balls will be donated to the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, who will send them to kids in Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. (More on that here!)
To make this squishy cuddly fun possible, we need YOUR help: Please join us in knitting hundreds of colorful character balls! Follow the pattern below (there’s a circular and a flat version) to make as many balls as you can contribute, and mail them to this address by January 3rd, 2019:
[I’ve removed the address to avoid confusion—this project is complete!]
If your package comes from somewhere outside the US, we want to thank you for your extra effort, so please include your email address for a discount code to the Mochimochi Shop!
(If you’re coming to Vogue Knitting LIVE NYC in person, you can also just bring your character balls with you!)
A big thank-you to our sponsor, Cheers To Ewe!
Yarn: Use any weight of colorful yarn! It can be variegated or have a funky texture or whatever, but we do want to keep it bright and happy. You’ll need less than 10 yards of yarn for one ball. (This is a great project for using up yarn scraps!) You’ll also need a small amount of contrasting-color yarn for eyes.
Needles: Use a needle that is small enough so that stuffing won’t show through the gaps between the stitches. (We recommend using size 5 US (3.75mm) needles with worsted-weight yarn, for example.)
Stuffing: We recommend polyester fiberfill, but stuffing can be anything lightweight, including yarn scraps.
You’ll also need a tapestry needle and scissors.
• We want characters! Please make your ball into a character by embroidering eyes onto it! Don’t worry about doing it perfectly—wonky stitching just adds to your ball’s uniqueness and specialness.
• You can add details like arms, legs, hair, ears, etc by adding embellishments like I-cords. Make sure this is all attached—characters should have no loose parts, and nothing so big or dangly that it would tangle up our ball-pit fun.
• We want the ball pit to be totally soft, so no hard components, please. (No plastic eyes.)
• Crocheters are welcome to participate! There are several free ball patterns on Ravelry, like this one.
• We’re unable to return submissions once they’re incorporated into the ball pit, so your characters will be taking up permanent residence in Mochimochi Land. Make sure you say a proper goodbye before sending them off!
• Please tag your character balls with #knitballpit —I’ll also be sharing submissions and updates and other fun stuff using that hashtag.
I had a blast doing stop-motion animation workshops at the ELA Public Library this month!
It was inspiring to see all different ideas and stories develop in an afternoon. We had tons of crafty materials on hand, and everything from pom-poms to play-doh to 3D printed figurines got moving through pictures.
I hope these creators keep making movies. (Anybody can do it with free apps like Stop Motion Studio!)
Thank you to Becca Boland for making this happen!
If you live near the Chicago area and would like to try stop-motion animation with me as your guide, now is your chance! I’ll be leading workshops at the Ela Area Public Library in Lake Zurich on July 14th and 28th. See the library website for more information and to sign up! Total beginners of all ages are welcome!
(Thank you to Erin Helmrich of the Ann Arbor District Library for the photo!)
I just enjoyed a long weekend at Vogue Knitting LIVE Chicago! It’s been over two years since the last one here, and also over two years since Mochimochi Land was unfurled in public.
I was lucky enough to be placed near a ramp entrance to the marketplace, so I got this nice overhead shot thanks to that!
Many new mochis and scenarios joined the world, and this time I focused on referencing some of my animations within it. I hope people had fun checking it out—I think it was the most detailed version ever!
For most people, VK LIVE is about classes, lectures, and shopping for yarn. For me, it’s mostly about sharing Mochimochi Land and seeing knitters face-to-face for a change! On Sunday, these lovely faces found four-leaf clovers and let me take their picture.
Yes, there are only seven people, because three clovers went rogue! I hope they are bringing luck to whoever now has them.
With my limited extra time, I chatted with Nicky Epstein, picked up yarn from Handspun Hope, and got acquainted with the Committed Knitters, who knit with women in the Cook County Jail.
Thank you to the VK LIVE people and to everyone who came out and said hi!