Category: Mochimochi Land News

2013 Mochimochi Favorites

Posted on by Anna

It’s been another super year here in Mochimochi Land. 2013 was our seventh year, if you can believe it—that’s a lot of mochis!

Let’s wrap up 2013 with a quick look at some favorite happeningss on the blog.

**Favorite New Pattern**

Luvbots

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I’m a little bit in love with these guys, but it might just be the puns they inspire in me.

**Favorite New Contraption**

The Mark Hrachovec Yarn Winding Machine

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This thing saved my sanity this year. Instead of spending hours winding the bobbins for my tiny kits, I can spend minutes! My dad is the best.

**Favorite Tiny Mochi**

Tiny Butterfly

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This little guy was praised by poets! I haven’t written pattern for him yet, but I’m hoping to do so in 2014.

**Favorite Funny Mochi Scene**

Knitjvf’s Zombie-Killer Birds

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The most original way I’ve seen zombies defeated!

**Favorite Crazy Fun Projects**

I had TWO favorite crazy fun projects this year.

The Wooly Woods

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Because of course it’s a good idea to knit things on top of delicate twigs and ship them all to Germany for a show! (As ill-advised as this all seemed at times, it actually turned out great!)

Nickelodeon Holiday Animations

Anna Hrachovec for Nickelodeon: Holiday 2013 IDs from Anna Hrachovec on Vimeo.

The coolest project to wrap up 2013 with!

**Favorite Knitting Debate**

To Cozy or Not to Cozy?

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It’s the ultimate question that divides knitters these days. (As it turns out, everybody thinks they’re a little silly but ultimately harmless.)

**Favorite Mochimochi Mods**

Sarah’s Disney Knits

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This young knitter started with some shapes from Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi and took them in an awesome direction!

**Favorite Animated GIF**

Caveman Family Meeting

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This year I started making some longer stop-motion animations, but the looped action of a GIF remains of of my favorites forms of expression.

**Favorite Personal Project**

A little kitty for my niece!

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I love having a niece to knit things for! Apparently the kitty (now named Nickus) gets to go on many adventures with Nora.

**Favorite Random Cute Things**

Hello Kitty Re-Ments!

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I just sent one of my last boxes out to the winner of the 2013 Mochimochi Photo Contest.

Conor Finnegan’s Fear of Flying

I was inspired by many kinds of art this year, but this short animation really stands out to me.

Those were just a few of my favorite things from 2013. Oh, and I didn’t even mention my new book, which was one of the most exciting things to happen this year!

But what keeps Mochimochi Land going and growing is the participation of all of you, in the form of your comments and emails, your photos of mochis that you’ve knit, and the way that so many of you have shown up at events and said hi in person! If anything, I want to foster more community here in 2014, and I hope to have more projects that we can all participate in.

Thank you for a wonderful year, everyone! Let’s make 2014 magical together!

Order by Noon Thursday for Christmas Delivery

Posted on by Anna

It’s been awesome getting all of your comments on our two groups of semifinalist photos. Clearly many of the photos have their fans, but who will make it into the finals? We’ll announce the final round of photos and start the big official vote tomorrow!

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Today I just wanted to make a quick announcement for those of you who may be giving Mochimochi gifts from Christmas this year. If you’re in the US and want delivery on physical goods (books, kits, buttons, etc.) order by noon EST tomorrow (Thursday 12/18) and select Priority shipping.

PDF patterns AND gift cards are always available for instant download, of course!

We’ll also be taking a short shipping break for Christmas: Orders of physical goods placed between December 24th and 29th will be shipped on December 30th.

That’s it for housekeeping! Be sure to check back tomorrow and VOTE!

Mochimochi on Nickelodeon

Posted on by Anna

I’ve been getting emails all month from knitters who think they’ve spotted knitted gnomes, snowmen, and other Mochimochi Land creatures on TV. If you’ve been watching Nickelodeon, you’re eyes are not deceiving you! Last month I had the opportunity to work with Nick on a series of animated holiday IDs featuring a variety of wintry mochis making mischief in the snow. If you tune in right now, you’ll probably see them airing between commercials!

I’m excited to share the full animations here.

Like with the other stop-motion videos and GIFs that I’ve made, the animations were created by moving the creatures a fraction of an inch and taking a photograph, and repeating that again and again until we had a series of hundreds of photos that could be put together to make one action happen. Then repeat. And repeat. Making a 10-second animation could take up to four hours, and that’s pretty good time for stop-motion!

I worked together with the Nick promotions team to concept and animate the first six IDs, with all the post-production work, including the sound and the flat animations, handled by Nick. The last four animations starring mochi-fied Nick characters were done by the Nick team themselves using materials I had made.

It was an incredible experience to get to work on these ambitiously-conceived animations with such a talented and enthusiastic team. I had a blast with this project, and I learned so much! The project has made me more excited about all the possibilities for mochis in motion.

Big thank-yous go to Matthew Duntemann at Nick and to my agent Koko for making this happen!

Teeter-Totter Reindeer Pattern FREE with Purchase through January 1

Posted on by Anna

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Our 2013 holiday pattern has arrived! Knit up snowball-sized Teeter-Totter Reindeer in a day or less for quick gifts and cute holiday decor.

The pattern automatically comes FREE with any purchase of $5 or more from the Mochimochi Shop through January 1st! A link to download the pattern will be emailed to you within 24 hours of your purchase. (You don’t have to add it to your cart.)

These guys are based on animals that I made for a mobile for my niece when she was born two years ago. There’s something about a spherical body with minimalist features that melts my heart. I hope you guys want to knit them too!

Tiny Snowman Kits Now Available

Posted on by Anna

By popular demand, look who’s now available as a kit!

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The Tiny Snowman Kit comes with the pattern and enough yarn (Cascade Heritage, a fingering-weight wool/nylon blend) and stuffing to make two snowpeople, one with a blue scarf and one with a pink scarf. All you need are a set of size 1 DPNs and a small tapestry needle.

This would make a COOL gift for your knitting friends, if you’ll pardon the pun. (And the pattern is super simple, so it’s a great one to start with!)

If you haven’t checked them out, we now have 17 different tiny kits in the Mochimochi Shop, each available for $12.

Announcing the 2013 Mochimochi Photo Contest!

Posted on by Anna

UPDATE: Congratulations to our winners!

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Got yarn, needles, and a camera? It’s now officially time to enter the 7th annual Mochimochi Photo Contest!

Once again, we’re looking for the cutest, funniest, most interesting photos of Mochimochi Land toys. All you have to do to enter is upload your photo(s) to the Mochimochi Friends group on Flickr by Monday, December 9th.

Winners will receive amazing prizes from our generous sponsors Knit Picks and Craftsy, gift certificates to the Mochimochi Shop, PLUS vintage knitting kits from Bonney Teti, owner of the world’s biggest yarn stash (and my awesome mother-in-law)!

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Eligibility

This contest is open to knitters worldwide. To be eligible, your photo must contain at least one knitted toy made from a Mochimochi Land pattern. This can be a pattern from the Mochimochi Shop, a pattern from one of the Mochimochi books, or one of the free patterns on the Mochimochi Blog. The pattern may be modified, but not beyond recognition from the original design.

Note that we’re looking for humor, cuteness, and originality—not necessarily the most professional-looking photo. We want everyone to enter!

How to enter

Simply upload your photo(s) to the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group. If you don’t have a Flickr account, it is free and easy to register (though we recommend signing up as soon as possible, because it takes a little time for your account to be approved for sharing photos in a group). You can enter as many photos as you want, within reason. (A series of photos is great, but each photo will be judged individually. We focus on series in our spring contest!)

All photos uploaded since the deadline of the 2012 photo contest last year—with the exception of those entered in our springtime contest—are already entered in this year’s contest!

Deadline

The last day to enter the contest is December 9th, 2013. We’ll announce the semi-finalists shortly thereafter here on the blog, then everyone will be able to vote for their favorites! So be sure to check the blog in mid-December.

Prizes!

First place prize will include a $50 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a free Craftsy class, a $20 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop, and vintage knitting kits (similar to these ones) and yarn from Bonney Teti’s humongous yarn stash.

Second place prize will include a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a 50% Craftsy discount, a $10 gift certificate to Mochimochi Land and kits and yarn from Bonney.

Third place prize will include a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a 25% Craftsy discount, a $10 gift certificate to Mochimochi Land, and a kit and skein of yarn from Bonney.

Needles ready? Yarn set? GO!

Classes and Book Signings in DC and Philly Dec 7+8

Posted on by Anna

DC and Philly, I’m headed your way next month for fun classes and book signings!

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On Saturday, December 7th, I’ll be at Looped Yarn Works in Washington DC! Stop by from 11am to 12:30 to meet some huge and huggable mochis from my new book. Then in the afternoon I’ll go from huge knits to tiny ones, with a “Knit a Tiny Gnome” class from 1-4pm. It’s great for anyone who has used DPNs before but is new to knitting toys. You can get more details and sign up at the Looped website.

On Sunday, December 8th, I’ll be at Loop in Philadelphia! From 10am-1 is another tiny gnome knitting class—sign up by calling Loop at 215-893-9939. And from 2-5pm, another book signing where a bunch of the toys from Huge & Huggable Mochimochi will be there for you to squeeze.

These are two cities that the mochis have yet to visit before, so I can’t wait! Hope to see you locals there!