Could it be…?
Yes, our first gnome diplomat for Project Gnome Diplomacy has arrived!!
It comes from Beth in Des Moines, Iowa. Thank you Beth! For sending the first gnome, you win this Christmas Sonny Angel that we had tucked away in a closet.
(I’m going to try to throw in a few other fun random prizes as gnomes arrive!)
Get all the info on this participatory art project here. I can’t wait for more of your gnomes!
Sheila (QueenofSheeba on Ravelry) is a knitter who frequently embodies the Mochimochi spirit by spreading little bits of happiness wherever she goes. For her latest project, the happiness comes in the form of tiny bunnies with messages of spring for the embattled citizens of New England, who have been dealing with unprecedented amounts of snow recently.
Here’s what Sheila says in her project description on Ravelry:
Desperate times call for desperate measures!
Much like the rest of the Northeast my little patch of Maine has been inundated with snow and it just keeps coming! All you hear is “No more snow!” “Please make it stop!” “U-N-C-L-E ALREADY!!!” That’s just me! Hehehe. Of course I am hearing the same desperate cries everywhere I go SO, I decided to start the “Think Spring” movement. Maybe, juuuuuust maybe, if enough of us thing positive thoughts spring will come about sooner. As I said, things are getting desperate!
The big batch of bunnies goes to the folks at the local library. The others will randomly be given to those in need-hehehe. I figure it can’t hurt and might make folks smile in between the snowflakes…
Sure, little knitted bunnies in plastic eggs are silly, but I have no doubt that they are just what some people need right now. There’s a whole Tiny Bunny Movement based on this idea, in fact! Check out their Ravelry group, and use my free pattern to scatter little bunny-snapped seeds of happiness yourself.
The tiny roses are popping up like pretty weeds on Ravelry—as of today there are 40 of them listed!
Let’s marvel at how each of these tiny roses, although made from a very simple free pattern, is a unique and beautiful creature. (The Little Prince was right, of course!) Kittrin’s Mr. Rose, for example, may have walked right out of a Super Mario Bros. game, while DQknits’ Tiny Rose strikes me as a little hand-dyed diva.
lolypoplolpop1’s Not-As-Tiny Rose, below, seems like a bit of a tough guy with a soft heart, and beckjohn’s Tiny roses are siblings who have nothing to say to each other right now because they’ve been arguing about tap vs. distilled water and they’ve each realized that they’re never going to change the other’s mind.
Unsurprisingly (but delightfully!) QueenofSheeba went and knitted up a whole colony of glamorous tiny roses,
And in our Flickr group, Knit Mermaid is killing me with this spot-on Baby Groot.
So many loved ones are going to be delighted/nonplussed this weekend. Valentine’s Day is two days away, the pattern is free and super quick—if you haven’t yet, hurry up and knit a tiny rose!
If you’ve been visiting this blog for a long time, you know what these colorful tiny frogs are all about!
For the past four years, Bonnie of Catharticink has made it a tradition to knit a hand-dyed spectrum of tiny mochis in the colder months—she started with a torrent of snowmen, then followed that with a zipper of Santas, a cloud of bats, and a bunch of birds.
So every year now when it starts getting cold, I start wondering if another brightly-hued herd is on its way to help cheer things up. As you can see, Bonnie really came through with this flotilla of frog gins. They even appear to be forming molecules!
Or they can just be a high-fiber froggie snack.
Bonnie’s beautifully shot groupings have really been a big inspiration to me over the past few years. In fact, I’m working on some soft sculptures right this moment that are heavily inspired by what she has done with this annual series. (More on that a bit later.)
I spotted Bonnie’s frogs in the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group, which is where I find a lot of the knits that I share here. If you’ve taken photos of your toys made from Mochimochi Land patterns, please share them in the group!
This is making my week: The Biodiversity Research Institute, a nonprofit organization in Portland, Maine, that conducts research and promotes awareness about wildlife conservation, is raising funds by selling hand-knitted bats made from my Boo the Bat pattern!
Because they are scientifically-minded people, BRI’s Bat Buddies are available as three different species: Northern Long-eared bat, Red bat, and the Gray bat. Let’s learn more about them with the descriptions provided on their website!
Northern Long-eared Bat
The Northern Long-eared bat is a medium-sized bat distinguished by its long ears. Medium to dark brown fur covers its back while its underside is tawny to pale-brown. This species is one that is most impacted the White-nose Syndrome and has recently been proposed for listing as an endangered species.
Gray Bat
The Gray bat is a small bat with grayish-brown fur. It is approximately 5 inches long with a wingspan of 11-13 inches. Gray bats live in caves year round with only rare occurrences outside of caves. They are a federally endangered species mainly due to human disturbance and habitat loss. However, the gray bat population has also been affected by White-nose Syndrome.
Red Bat
The Red bat is a medium-sized bat, about 4-5 inches long, with reddish-orange fur. Adult males are more brightly colored, while females and juveniles are more grayish. The fur of both sexes may be tipped white, giving this bat a frosty appearance. They are known as a “tree bat” and can usually be found roosting in the foliage of trees and shrubs. Like other tree bats, they will migrate from the northern part of its range to the southern part of its range for the winter. The Red bat is not currently listed as endangered or threatened.
The Bat Buddies are available for $20 each and are knitted to order by Catherine of Laughing Lab Designs. I hope they prove a popular item!
I love it when knitters use my patterns to raise funds for a good cause. If you have a fundraising project like this that you’d like to do, just get in touch at info [at] mochimochiland [dot] com.
I want to live in a world where making art can’t get you killed. Perhaps there isn’t a more appropriate response to last week’s attacks in Paris than to make more art, and I’m grateful for the cartoonists and others who have done so.
That includes Circé, a knitter and designer living in France, who made this pencil from one my patterns.
And Lorna of Knits for Life, who shared this yarn bombing on Facebook the other day.
When I was a freshman in college, one of the first classes that I took was named “Offensive Art.” I thought the name was kind of dumb, because who cares if there are still people out there who are offended by art? Then we learned about the Taliban and how they were destroying ancient Buddhist art in Afghanistan, and that answered my question.
I know that the attack on Charlie Hebdo was, at its roots, about more than art. But I also believe that art and other freedoms of expression are the way forward for us all.
Speaking of Vogue Knitting LIVE, Rebecca took my toy design class at the October VK LIVE in Chicago, and she just sent me an update about her new toy, which is finished!
This is Legs the Penguin. Isn’t he funny? And good news: Rebecca is sharing him as a free pattern on her website ChemKnits!
Legs isn’t the first toy that Rebecca has designed—in fact, she has quite a lot of patterns to her name. I hope the VK LIVE workshop opened up some new ideas for her. I also love how Rebecca is an actual biochemist, and still she chooses to spend her spare time designing a googly-eyed penguin with extra long legs.
If anyone else from that design class is reading this: you are all late with your homework! But really, I’m always interested in talking about toy design. There are just so many different approaches to it, and the possibilities are endless. If you’ve thought about designing a toy before but haven’t actually done it yet, why not get started today? Just start somewhere and see how it goes!
We finish up our run of honorable-mention videos with this one by Kendra, whose Hugs is looking for his long-lost Squoze.
Thank you again to everyone who entered our photo + video contest this year!