I’m so excited to announce that a selection of tiny mochis hand-knitted by yours truly are now available at Rotofugi, the designer toy store and gallery in Chicago!

Rotofugi features toys and artwork by many of my favorite artists (like Mr. Clement, Shawnimals, and Heidi Kenney, to name a few), so it’s a big honor to have a small place among them. When I returned on Friday after dropping them off on Wednesday, I was psyched to find my tiny gnomes, vikings, owls, and pandas right next to Chris Uphues’s awesome heart figurines.

It’s never been my aim to produce tons of mochis for sale, but instead I like to have a small selection available at venues that I’m personally excited about, and Rotofugi is one of those. But if you live far from Chicago, you can also find some hand-knit mochis in my shop, which I’ve just updated with more designs!

Wow, thank you for an awesome pattern launch last night! Even with an initial glitch with the pattern page (that had John and me freaking out for a few minutes—thanks to those of you who alerted us to it), we had a terrific response!

And now for the official-official announcement: The Tiny Woodland pattern collection is now here!

Tiny fox, owl, tree, and hedgehog can be knit up in a matter of hours with minimum yarn. Have a free weekend? You can knit a whole forest! The pattern collection is available as a PDF download for $6 in the shop. (Want them on Ravelry? Just send me a quick email when you check out with your Ravelry name, and I’ll add the patterns to your library when they’re available, in about a month.)

These projects are great for scrap yarn, or pick up a kit to make three owls, hedgehogs, or foxes for $12 a pop.

Because woodland creatures have a tendency to be some people’s all-time favorite animals, I put extra work into getting the designs just right. I also wanted the photos to be just right, so when it was time for the photo shoot I called in Soupy to do what he does best: Soupyvise.

It’s like supervising, but it’s nonverbal, and he might destroy what you’re trying to do without warning.

Here’s something else I tried as a main image.

I liked the idea of shooting down on the projects, kind of in a Wes Anderson style, but I just couldn’t get the lighting right, and the burlap texture (which is the same as the background in the top photo) was too distracting and also made the image look slightly crooked.

And yes, I did have to hot glue the tiny owl to the twig. Oh, the sacrifices my mochis make for their art!

Anyway, I think the world is becoming a little more adorable this weekend thanks to all of you who are getting the patterns. Thank you!

Are you an experienced sales rep looking for something fun and different to present to your stores? Are you an on-the-go professional business cat?

If you answered “yes” to one of those questions, I want to talk with you!

I’m currently looking for sales reps for my line of tiny knitting kits for all regions of the US except California and New England. As my collection has grown, more and more local yarn stores are carrying the kits, but they (and Mochimochi Land in general) are still new to many in the knitting world, and I need some help spreading the word!

I prefer to work with reps who are are already working with yarn and other knitting-related companies and are looking to add to their mix of products. If this is you, please contact me at info [at] mochimochiland [dot] com. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

What’s on my needles right now? It’s a tiny mystery!

Today (July 31) is the LAST DAY to get a free mystery kit with purchase of any two kits or books from the Mochimochi Shop. There are three mystery designs available—so, order four kits/books to receive two of them, and order six kits/books to get all three. These are sent automatically with orders—no need to add anything to your cart.

And as I’ve mentioned before, if you’ve already received a mystery kit and would like to get one or both of the other designs, just shoot me an email (at info [at] mochimochiland [dot] com) and let me know which one you already have so you don’t get a duplicate.

The mystery designs will be revealed later this year (probably October) when the patterns are officially available in my shop. From what I’ve seen poking around social media, those who have gotten the mystery kits share my excitement about them—yay!