When I announced the recently-completed Mochi Mod Contest, I used the example of Monsters Inc. mochis made by Amanda, who generously shares many creative takes on Mochimochi Land patterns.
So I had it in mind that we’d get to see some other fun characters from pop culture. I was not wrong!
Kathleen was slow to send birthday wishes to her sister, so she came up with an extra charming use for a tiny knit snail!
Here’s the explanation she shared on Ravelry about the project:
I don’t like shopping for greeting cards because I can never find the right one or even one that I sort of like. I usually try to figure something out. My sister’s and her husband’s birthdays are in March, and I’m super late with my acknowledgment of their big days, so I figured that a 3-D card was in order. I think I need to make more of these. :)
To make the snail stay upright on the card, I had to sew him on. After I mounted the white cardstock onto the orange cardstock, I made two set of parallel holes with an x-acto knife, making sure they were well under the snail. Then using the body color yarn, I went up through the bottom of the card and stitched the snail to it using the holes. I tied a bow with the ends of the sewing yarn on the underside of the card in case the recipient wants to easily remove the snail. (That’s what my sister did!)
I love that people are constantly coming up with creative new things to do with tiny mochis! Stay tuned for a new contest that’s all about highlighting fun new ideas.
By the way, the tiny snail pattern is free, right here: Snails and Slugs
If you’ve taken a look at our Flickr group recently, you’ve been greeted with tiny gnomes traveling to all sorts of places—from the shore,
to a temple,
to a rock concert,
to the Biosphere in Montreal (NOT Epcot, as I originally thought!),
to Chicago,
to Austria!
These jet-setting gnomes were all shared by Estelle, who clearly took an epic journey with her gnome companions. In fact, there were so many traveling gnomes, as I was scrolling through the photos I was wondering just what was up…. So I got in touch with Estelle, who lives in Quebec, and I learned that this is a whole project with many different contributors!
This is what she had to say about Projet Gnome:
Last year I went on a 3 month backpacking trip with my sister to New-Zealand, Thailand and India. A few weeks before we left I was looking for ideas for small gifts to make for our future hosts, and I stumbled upon your website. I just fell in love with the gnomes and thought I’ll knit one for myself and take pictures of him at different places we go. (A bit like in the movie Amelie with Audrey Tautou)
Then I knitted a lady friend for Mr Gnome, then some more gnomes, and I started giving them to people I met on my trip so they make them travel and take pictures.
I kept on knitting gnomes when I came back home and gave them to fellow travellers. In a way I got to keep on travelling a bit this way! So far I might have knit about 30 gnomes and they travelled to more than 15 countries, thanks to the wonderful travellers/photographers/artists who took part in the Gnome Project.
For me, this is really about sharing, creating, and finding beauty and fun in small things.
How fun! Of course, Estelle’s project reminds me of Project Gnome Diplomacy, which many of you participated in last year, when I brought more than 300 of your gnomes to Seoul to be handed out to people who visited the gallery where they were displayed. I love that the gnome is a symbol of adventure and friendship that so many people recognize and want to take part in.
Anyone can join Projet Gnome by knitting a gnome and taking it on a trip, and there’s even a Facebook group for the intrepid gnomes and their escorts. I just joined myself!
You can find the tiny gnome pattern in Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi, in the Tiny Gnome Kit, and in Tiny Mochis Collection 3.
How much fun are these ONE HUNDRED tiny monkeys that Sheila knitted?
Sheila (QueenofSheeba on Ravelry) started with the Tiny Monkey pattern from Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi and added an itty-bitty mouth flap for the classic sock monkey look… 100 times over!
I love the scenes she’s made with these little guys. Check out her Ravelry project page to zoom in and see exactly what they’re all up to.
Thank you to Sheila once again for the inspiration!
Saturday’s tiny pumpkin knitting class at the Harold Washington Library was lots of fun, with a great group of knitters. And after just two hours we ended up with this adorable harvest!
When I posted this photo on Facebook, my favorite comment was from Cindy here.
Hence the title of this blog post.
This was actually my last scheduled event for 2015, and with the baby due at the end of the year, I have NOTHING yet scheduled for 2016. It’s a strange feeling, but maybe a little nice to think about a break (I have plenty of work to do behind the scenes of course, too), and I’m sure I’ll be back out in the world before too terribly long.
Back on the subject of tiny pumpkins, Halloween is just a few days away now, isn’t it?! It’s definitely not too late for spooky little knits, so here’s a handy list of links to Halloween mochi patterns:
Candy Corn (free!)
Tiny Pumpkin
Tiny Terrors (vampire, werewolf, mad scientist, and two-headed dude)
Tiny Zombie
Thwickeds
Gobbledyghost
Boo the Bat
Also, this morning I had the nice surprise of finding my tiny terrors at the top of this BuzzFeed roundup of spooky knitting patterns by Claire de Louraille.
The list includes quite a few adorable things I hadn’t seen before (like those cool ghost hats!), so check it out for more ideas and patterns!
It’s time once again to collect some of the best Boos added to Ravelry in the past year. These cuties were made from my pattern for Boo the Bat, which I originally released way back in 2008 and continues to be one of my most popular patterns.
As of this posting, 1,060 Boos have been added Ravelry! I have to assume that’s just a fraction of the little knitted bats out in the world, which completely blows my mind. And people are adding new ones all the time—check them all out on the project page, and please add your own if you’ve made one!
You can find the the pattern in the Mochimochi Shop and also on Ravelry.
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
I’ve been seeing some impressive tiny mochi projects on Ravelry lately—they make my day every time! It also bodes well for our upcoming annual photo and video contest. I’ll be announcing that here soon, but you can already start submitting your photos by adding them to our Flickr group. (And check out last year’s contest details for more information.)
I don’t want to ruin all the fun by sharing too much before the contest even starts, but I simply must highlight this giant assortment of tinys made by epic knitter Sheila.
The smaller box that you see was made for Sheila by some of her friends, then true to form, Sheila blew up the idea to heroic proportions. Truly there is no end to her creative energy. (Be sure to check out her hexiscenes too!)
By the way, I’m still working on choosing the prizes for this year’s photo contest. If you have any ideas for what you’d like them to be, let me know!
One of my favorite mochimochi knitters is Sheila, aka QueenofSheeba on Ravelry, whose funny and creative projects have appeared on this blog from time to time. THIS time she’s been up something that I really wish I’d thought of first: combining mochis with hexipuffs to make mini dioramas she calls hexiscenes!
Not Betty [Biscuit the Baker pattern from Adventures in Mochimochi Land]
Do you wanna build a snowman? [Tiny Christmas Tree from Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi, Mochimochi Snowmen]
Tim Ber [Tiny Lumberjack from Tiny People 2]
Mawwiage [Tiny Bride & Groom from Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi]
I asked Sheila where this idea came from, and this is what she said:
The Hexiscenes actually started out on a sad note. We got the call that my beloved mother-in-law had just entered a hospice for final care. (Sob) I didn’t know the rules for flowers in the facility etc but HAD to bring her something so she knew how much I love her and was thinking about her when I wasn’t there. (Sob! Sob!) It had to be knit and something she could just hold in her hand. It ended up being this:
We go together like peas and carrots [Tiny Baby Bunnies]
That is how the Hexiscene was created ~ with me crying my way through the first one!!! Now every one I make I smile (and cry a little!) thinking “Donna would have loved this!”
It’s touching how small knitted things can contain so much meaning. As you saw above, Sheila has continued to make many more hexiscenes—aside from being perfect little gifts, they seem to feed her dual addictions to tiny mochis and hexipuffs:
I have a thing for tinys as you know AND a thing for Hexipuffs. I have made about a bajillion puffs for chair back cushions, footstool covers, pillows, toys, and heading for five (yup-CRAZY) window quilts! I’m thinking in this drafty old farmhouse I should just start sticking them to the walls as I finish them for warmth-hehe. Not so practical for cleaning though… The point is I don’t want to stop making them OR tinys as you know!
I would love to post all of Sheila’s hexiscenes, but there are just too many at this point. OK, here’s one more—they’re getting more elaborate!
Under the sea [Ichigo the Adventurer from Adventures in Mochimochi Land, Tiny Nosey Fish]
OK, I only have so much bandwidth, so I encourage you to check out Sheila’s project page to see more.