Through August 31st, all mochi-making goodies in the Mochimochi Shop are on sale: Books are 15% off, and all kits and PDF patterns are 20% off. Just enter the code SUMMEROFSQUEE in your cart before checking out.
This is our last big sale of the year, so take advantage of the deals and end your summer with a squee!
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!
I love getting new pin-back buttons made! I just got 99 of these guys, and I’ll be sending them out with all shipped orders (books, kits, other buttons, and hand-knit items) until supplies last.
These are also the final days to get your mystery kits—Thursday (7/31) will be the last day to get one or more with your order! If you’ve already received one mystery kit and you want to pick up one or both of the other three designs, just email me at info [at] mochimochiland [dot] com and let me know which kit you’ve already gotten so that you don’t get duplicates.
Recently I’ve received several requests for a tutorial on picking up stitches—it’s a technique that I use allll the time, so it’s about time that I show it! (And it comes in handy for one of the mystery kits that I’ve been shipping around the world this month…)
Visit the How-to page for the full tutorial!
Ready for a MYSTERY? The 2014 mystery preview kits are here!
Now through July 31st, purchase two kits and/or books from the Mochimochi Shop, and you’ll receive one of these mystery kits for free!
Want some hints about what’s inside? All three are new, never-before-seen designs for adorable tiny creatures. One is feathered, one is furry, and one is… something else. In my completely biased opinion, these are the best mystery kits yet!
Order two kits and/or books, and a randomly-selected mystery kit will automatically be sent with your order. (You don’t have to add it to your shopping cart.) Order four kits/books, and two different mystery kits are on their way. Order six kits/books, and all will be revealed!
Once the mystery kit special is over, these patterns won’t be available until later this year. So don’t miss out!
After seven years of running Mochimochi Land mostly on my own (with help from John and lots of other awesome people), I feel that it’s finally time to hire someone for part-time help. This is a big step!
I’m looking for someone in the Chicago area who is willing to come to Lincoln Square once or twice a week for a few hours at a time. Duties may include assembling kits, going to the post office, organizing samples, helping out at events, and possibly blogging and social media. Knitting skills and a passion for cute stuff are a must; photography and social media skills are a plus. Ideally you don’t have cat or wool allergies.
If you’re interested, please email me at info [at] mochimochiland [dot] com with the subject line Part Time. Tell me about yourself and include a link to your website or Ravelry page. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
If my Twitter feed is any indication, knitters and crocheters are pretty psyched about Yoshi’s Wooly World, the new game Nintendo just announced that’s coming out in 2015.
Adorable, right?
This is the second yarn-themed Nintendo game in recent years (Kirby’s Epic Yarn came out in 2010), so I take this as a good sign that knitting and crochet still have a solid pop culture presence, and there is plenty of crossover between gaming and crafting. Awesome!
Just a few days after I first heard about Yoshi’s Wooly World, a couple of nice people on on Twitter let me know that a little piece of Mochimochi Land made an appearance in Nintendo’s public announcement about the game. When discussing the game’s development, the Nintendo presenter showed this image, among others.
They added yarny Yoshis to Gnomes vs Snowmen! The photo looks like it came from my display at Vogue Knitting Live in Chicago last year, so someone must have taken it from the event’s website.
I don’t have any more information than that, but I just had to share this fun discovery! It’s very cool to think that my art may have had some small influence on how the game designers envisioned the wooly world of Yoshi. I’m looking forward to playing the game next year!
The newest pattern in the Mochimochi Shop is a little bit make-believe and a lot bit magical!
In fact, Farfalla the Flying Narwhal is a little more make-believe than I had thought, because I’ve been referring to her as female, and someone on Facebook just informed me that only the male narwhals grow tusks… I guess this gal just can’t be boxed in!
It’s hard not to love a narwhal, but when I was thinking about designing one, it took me a while to figure out how to make mine a little special. It was my sister-in-law Jenna who initially suggested giving a narwhal wings, way back in… April of last year. So this one has been in the works for a while! Thanks, Jenna!
Another cool thing about this project is that the photo shoot for it got me to finally visit the Chicago beach! I realized that it was less than a 10 minute drive from my apartment—I had no idea. My sister just happened to be in town last week, so I recruited her as a hand model. Thanks, Leah!
Farfalla is an intermediate-level pattern, and techniques include knitting in the round on double-pointed needles, a little stranded colorwork, and mattress stitch. I recommend using worsted-weight yarn (like Cascade 220) and size 5 DPNs, but as with any toys, you can scale up or down using a different yarn weight and needle size.
The pattern is now available as a PDF download for $6 in the Mochimochi Shop.
Knit one for you, and one for someone who doesn’t believe in magic… maybe now they will!