It’s awkward to talk about mental health, but it’s so important to check in with your friends about how they’re doing. That’s the theme of the new #SeizeTheAwkward campaign that I was happy to contribute to with this image, commissioned by Droga5.
You can find more information on the website, and see more #SeizeTheAwkward posters by cool artists on the project’s instagram.
Back in 2005, a cat wearing burgundy pants appeared in the young online knitting magazine Knitty and sparked a knitted toy revolution. Designed by Jess Hutchison, Kate was beautiful in her simplicity, and she gave me something to study when I started thinking about designing toys of my own.
As 2017 marks 10 years of Mochimochi Land AND 15 years of Knitty, I jumped on the chance to revisit Kate and make a version of my own. So I’m thrilled to introduce Kate’s Kitten, a mini mochi-fied version of the classic tail-free cat! The pattern is in the current issue of Knitty, along with many other exciting projects.
Not only did Knitty inspire me when I first started designing, but they also gave Mochimochi Land a boost when my Woodins were included in the Fall 2007 issue. I still love this design.
If you’re a Knitty fan, you should become a patron!
GIPHY.com just announced that this little heart-knitting gnome is Top GIF of 2017, with more than 400 MILLION views! They were even talking about it on the Today Show. That’s a lot of love!
The 2017 holiday pattern is here! Special Little Snowflakes celebrate how we’re all a bit alike and also unique at the same time. Knit them for all the special creatures in your life!
This pattern automatically comes FREE with any purchase of $5 or more from the Mochimochi Shop through January 1st! No need to add it to your cart—a link to download the pattern will be emailed to you within 24 hours of your purchase.
This is a seamless, intermediate-level pattern that incorporates stranded color knitting. Special Little Snowflakes knit up fast for ornaments, garlands, and more, for perfect little last-minute hand-knitted gifts!
Thanks to your help, Mochimochi Land donated over $200 to Oceana!
It was great to do this little fundraiser and get lots of support and enthusiasm from knitters. Of course, this contribution is a mere drop in the ocean, but every little bit does something, and talking about climate change and other environmental issues is a first step toward prioritizing it in our lives and culture.
If you’d like to do something good for the Arctic and for all ocean life, please check out this worthy nonprofit and consider supporting them regularly.
I’ll be adding the Tiny Frozen Friends patterns on Ravelry soon, so those of you who requested me to add them there will get them in the next few days.
An update on our project raising funds for Arctic conservation!
We’ve done our research and decided to donate funds raised this month from sales of the Tiny Frozen patterns to Oceana, a nonprofit that’s doing a lot to support the Arctic.
Learn about their work here. (And please consider supporting them regularly!)
Through the end of July, $1 of each sale of the Tiny Frozen patterns and the related knitting kits will go to Oceana. Thanks to everyone who’s already gotten them!
I think I forgot to mention this already, but the mystery kit from May was the Tiny Narwhal!
It was fun shipping the kits out to people all over, knowing (or at least feeling pretty sure) that they would be well received. (And from the happy feedback I got, it seems I was right!)
Now the tiny narwhals are enjoying their official debut in the summer.
You can now get the pattern as a kit or as part of the new Tiny Frozen collection—and $1 of each sale of those this July is going to support Arctic conservation.
A couple of people have asked why I included a tiny penguin in a set of patterns that is connected to a little fundraiser for Arctic conservation. Penguins don’t live in the Arctic, duh! I think the Arctic will take all the help it can get, but for those who need more of an acknowledgement/explanation, I thought I would further clarify.
This is not the first tiny penguin that I’ve designed—if you take a close look at the tiny patterns available in my shop, you’ll see a little blue penguin included in the Tiny Mochis Collection 5. I designed this guy a number of years ago, and he’s still close to my heart. He even appeared in a Nickelodeon network ID in 2013!
But a couple of years back I decided I wanted to update the tiny penguin kit that I offer on my site and to retailers to be a black and white type—more of a classic, black-tie penguin. But black eyes don’t show up so well on a black body, so I made the face all white, altering the design quite a bit in the process.
So that was that, but of course some people liked the new penguin design but didn’t want to purchase a kit, so I’ve been looking for a pattern collection that I could include it in. I certainly could have offered the new penguin as a pattern on its own, but I try not to do that with too many tiny patterns, because hundreds of additional shop listings would be a lot to handle (but that doesn’t mean I won’t try it sometime).
So, when I decided to make a collection of Arctic creatures, I was all set with four designs—the glacier, polar bear, walrus, and narwhal. But that little penguin just begged to be included! I couldn’t resist giving the pattern a home so that more people could knit him, and I had a hunch that those who are interested in knitting a polar bear, etc. might also like to knit a penguin. And that’s why the pattern collection is called Tiny Frozen Friends, and not Tiny Arctic Animals.
That’s more of an inside scoop than I think most of you would need, but I thought I’d chat about it for anyone who’s interested. Either way, I hope those of you who get the patterns enjoy the knitting and the teeny new friends and can open your hearts to a tiny black and white penguin (or whatever colors you choose to make yours). I haven’t decided for sure which organization we’ll be supporting with the July sales, but that’s something else that I’m thinking hard on and want to make the best decision about. I’ll certainly share that information here once it’s settled.
Thanks, always, to all of you who knit, comment, share, and like!