Free event alert! Come knit tiny pumpkins with me at the Chicago downtown library on October 24th.
You can bring your own yarn and needles (if you’re new to knitting tiny toys, I recommend worsted-weight yarn and size 5 DPNs), or you can purchase a kit from me containing yarn, needles, and stuffing at the event. I’ll also have my other books available for purchase.
Check out the full information here!
This past weekend was Vogue Knitting LIVE Chicago—my third time to be there! It was a busy weekend of Mochimochi Land assembling, seeing familiar faces in the marketplace, a little lecturing on knitting toys, and handing out prizes to tiny hot dog hunters.
It takes a lot of prep to get ready for one of these events, but Soupy was on it last week, in a literal sort of way.
This was my first time showing the classic tabletop Mochimochi Land at VK LIVE in Chicago, and it had some exciting additions, including donuts attacking bakers from my new book, Adventures in Mochimochi Land.
Also new were tiny me, John, and our cats thanks to Joan, one of our favorite mochi makers. You could find the family just beyond the unicorn eaters.
Speaking of family, here’s my mom! She joined me all weekend and was a great help. We even got her some Malabrigo yarn so she could knit a cowl as she manned the booth with me.
Mom also helped me hang a new little garland at our table—I think it was a brilliant addition!
Here are our nine successful hot dog hunters—as usual (for some reason) one of the tiny hotdogs went rogue and wasn’t heard from again!
These frankfurter finders each won a copy of Adventures in Mochimochi Land or a tiny kit of their choosing.
And finally, Joyce won the weekend as the most savvy mochi knitter, having brought a written list of all the Mochimochi Land patterns that she’s already acquired and didn’t need to get duplicates of.
Thanks to the Vogue Knitting LIVE team for a great weekend, and thanks to everyone who came out! With the baby coming in December, this will be my last VK LIVE for a little while, but I’m sure you can’t keep me away for too long.
Following up on the previous post, last Thursday I was happy to be back at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio!
Technical difficulties that resulted in me hoisting my laptop up for everyone to squint at, but people were patient with me and we all had a nice time.
Thank you to everyone at the Studio and everyone who came out! (And thanks to Koko for the photo!)
I was in the city for a couple more days, so I spent the time visiting friends, seeing museums, and sprinkling a little gnome magic around. One gnome wanted to be right in the middle of everything, so he got dropped off at 14th Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan.
Gnome number two was more of a hipster, so he disembarked at the Bedford Ave subway station in Brooklyn.
Gnome number three was up for some culture, so he left us at PS1 in Queens.
And the last tiny gnome took off all his clothes at City Hall in Jersey City.
I’m certain that each of these guys has now found a new home and is having a whole different big city adventure now.
While I was leaving them around, of course, I shared their locations and photos on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. So if you’d like to keep up with future gnome drops in real time, follow me there!
I get to go to NYC next week! I’m always excited to visit the last place I called home, and this time the occasion is also exciting—a talk and book signing at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio!
If you’re in the NYC area, please join me next Thursday, September 17th, at 6pm, when I’ll discuss the adventure that was the making of Adventures in Mochimochi Land with a slideshow talk. The studio always does other little giveaways in conjunction with their talks, so it’ll be a fun evening. RSVP here!
Maybe I’ll also bring a few gnomes with me to leave in the city while I’m there for a couple of days. If you see a gnome roaming around the city, please give him or her a nice home!
Vogue Knitting LIVE is coming up again in Chicago, and Mochimochi Land will be there once again!
This time you’ll be able to visit Mochimochi Land itself in classic landscape form. Different every time it unfurls, it will be updated with new characters getting up to all kinds of mochi mischief. And if you have a tiny mochi that you’d like to contribute to live forever in Mochimochi Land, you’re welcome to do so!
You’ll be able to find it all weekend in the art gallery of the marketplace, where I’ll also be with books and kits (which will include secret new designs, all at a special event price).
Plus! There will be another tiny mochi scavenger hunt in the marketplace on Sunday, this time for…
Tiny hotdogs! Because Chicago hearts hotdogs hard. Finding a tiny hotdog will win you either a copy of my new book or one of these tiny kits.
Plus! I’ll be giving a lecture on Sunday at 10:30am on the basics of toy knitting and designing. There is a fee to attend, or it also comes free with one of the packages available—check out the VK LIVE website for more info. (Early Bird pricing is still available as of now!)
Learn tiny toy knitting techniques and knit a tiny dolphin in my upcoming class at String Theory in Glen Ellyn, IL!
This is a project class in which everyone will finish (or nearly finish) a tiny dolphin from Adventures in Mochimochi Land to take home. We’ll cover techniques as we go, from joining two pieces into a round to wrap & turn to picking up stitches and simple embroidery. Experience with double-pointed needles is required.
Visit the String Theory website for more information and to sign up!
I’ll also be doing a book signing before the class at The Bookstore in Glen Ellyn on September 26th. Follow me on Facebook or Twitter to get updates about that.
I’ve got another book signing coming up next week—this time at a real live local bookstore!
The Book Cellar in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood was nice enough to invite me for this month’s Local Author night. I’m a very local author, actually, since this is my neighborhood bookstore. I plan to show some animations and also put together a small Mochimochi landscape, since it’s always so much fun to show it in person.
There will be copies of my new book, Adventures in Mochimochi Land, on hand too of course.
This all starts at 7pm at The Book Cellar, 4736-38 N Lincoln Ave in Chicago. I hope to see some of my neighbors there!
On August 8th I’m returning to Sifu Design Studio in Chicago for a tiny dolphin knitting class!
This is a project class that will be perfect for intermediate knitters who are looking to pick up some new skills in the realm of toys. We’ll cover joining two rounds into one, short rows, and picking up and knitting stitches. Everyone will go home with a tiny dolphin, or at least a good start to one that they can finish at home in an hour or so.
Because this class is happening during the Chicago Yarn Crawl, I’m going to stick around after the class to sign copies of my new book, so even if you can’t make it to the class, I hope to see you afterward!
Get all the details and sign up on the Sifu website.