Category: Mochimochi Photo Contest

Last Day to Enter Your Photos!

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Anna

You have until midnight Eastern tonight (Monday, Nov 21) to enter your photos in the 2011 Mochimochi Photo Contest! If you have a fun photo of a toy you knitted from a Mochimochi pattern, quick—add it to the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group so that it can be eligible for this year’s contest.

If you miss the deadline, though, don’t despair! Any photos added to the Flickr group after midnight tonight will automatically be in the running for next year’s contest.

To get you inspired to take a last-minute photo, here’s a super semifinalist from last year. Dust Bunnies run away! by kyoti!

Mochimochi Photo Contest Sponsor: Knit Picks

Posted on November 17, 2011November 18, 2011 by Anna

Have you entered the Mochimochi Photo Contest yet? The deadline is just a few days away now (November 21st), but there’s still time to knit and shoot!

If you need a little motivation, may we remind you that Knit Picks is providing gift certificates to the top three winners!

We are so pleased to have Knit Picks as a sponsor for the photo contest for the third year in a row. Knit Picks sells pretty much everything you need when it comes to knitting. Their prices are affordable, and the best thing is that they go out of their way to have quality goods that you can’t wait to get your hands on.

I’ve taken to using their fingering-weight Palette yarn all the time for making my Tiny Mochis. It’s available in more than 100 colors!

(I’m a sucker for the blue shades.)

Knit Picks is generously providing the first place winner of this year’s contest with a $50 gift certificate, and the second and third place winners will each get a $10 gift certificate!

And a bit of extra good news: Knit Picks only ships to North America, but I’ve worked it out with them so that any winners of the photo contest who may live outside of North America will still get the goods.

Thank you Knit Picks!

You can see all the entries in the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group, and check out the full contest details to find out how to enter!

Mochimochi Photo Contest Sponsor: Schmancy

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Anna

You may have seen that we have a new sponsor this year for the Mochimochi Photo Contest!

Schmancy, the hip plush and vinyl toy store in Seattle owned by Kristen Rask, is generously giving a $25 gift certificate to the first place winner of this year’s contest.

If you’re a fan of plush toys, Schmancy might be familiar to you because it’s the host of the annual Plush You! show that happens every October. It’s a real plush destination!

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I interviewed Kristen last month here on the blog— she’s a real mover and shaker in the craft world, so please check it out if you haven’t!

For those of us who don’t live in Seattle, Schmancy has an online shop where you can pick up lots of the fun and funky toys from the store. (Some Tiny Naked Santas made by me might just be popping up in there in a few weeks.)

You have exactly ONE WEEK left to enter the Mochimochi Photo Contest. Plenty of time to knit a mochimochi toy and photograph it in a fun way! We are seeing lots of great entries in the Flickr pool, but we’re hoping to get lots more before the deadline!

Picture Perfect Poultry

Posted on October 20, 2011October 20, 2011 by Anna

Since announcing this year’s Mochimochi Photo Contest, I’ve found myself checking the Flickr pool more frequently to see what’s new. This morning I am drawn to this cute Tiny Chicken by dhaus11!

The photo is adorable—I love the bright background and the simple prop of the 1/2 teaspoon. And what makes the photo really work is just the simple fact that it’s in focus!

Especially when photographing tiny knits, making sure they’re in focus is key. Most point-and-shoot cameras have a macro setting that works great for close-up shots—on my camera, the icon for this setting looks like a tulip.

macrotulip

(Of course, this photo isn’t in sharp focus because I took it with my phone!)

Other things you can do to make sure your photo isn’t blurry is to take it in bright natural light, and to steady the camera on something (it doesn’t have to be a tripod) as you push that button. If you can get your camera in place so that you don’t have to hold it at all, you can also use a timer, which will take subtle hand movements entirely out of the equation.

If you have other tips for taking good, in-focus photos, please share them in the comments!

(By the way, the pattern for Tiny Chicken is available for free on the CRAFT blog!)

Announcing the 2011 Mochimochi Photo Contest!

Posted on October 18, 2011October 19, 2011 by Anna

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Needles ready? Camera set? It’s now officially time to enter the 5th annual Mochimochi Photo Contest! Woohoo!

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, November 21st.

Winners will receive cute goodies from Japan and gift certificates from our generous sponsors Knit Picks and Schmancy!

Eligibility

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 Knitting Mochimochi or Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi, or one of the free patterns on the Mochimochi Blog. The pattern may be modified, but not beyond recognition from the original design.

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 upload as many photos as you want, within reason.

(All photos uploaded since the deadline of the 2010 photo contest last year are already entered in this year’s contest!)

Deadline

The last day to enter the contest is November 21st, 2011. 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 November.

Prizes!

First place prize will be a bunch of cute goodies from Japan, a $25 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop, a $50 gift certificate to Knit Picks (thank you Knit Picks!), and a $25 gift certificate to Schmancy (thank you Schmancy!).

Second place prize will be a handful of cute goodies from Japan, a $15 gift certificate to Mochimochi Land, and a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks.

Third place prize will be a $10 gift certificate to Mochimochi Land and a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks.

So get those needles clicking and those cameras snapping!

Photo Contest ’10: Winners!

Posted on December 6, 2010December 6, 2010 by Anna

Thank you to everyone who voted in the final round of the Mochimochi Photo Contest! Way more than ONE THOUSAND of you cast your votes on the ten adorable and imaginative photos of Mochimochi toys. It was a ridiculously tight race for 2nd and 3rd place, with a pretty clear 1st place winner.

But first, it’s judges’ choice! This photo didn’t make it into the top three, but John and I want to honor it just the same for its very clever use of Mochimochi toys. It’s An Evening with Harold & Betty by onna stick!

(You’ve gotta love that zombie making off with a skein of yarn!)

And now for third place: Nuclear Bed Bugs by DutchMoeder!

Yaay! You get a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks and a $10 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop!

Second place goes to Rain Dance by cupcakefields!

Woohoo! You get a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a $15 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop, and these fabulous prizes from Japan!

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And finally, first place goes to…

Chaos of Snowmen by flightsofyarn!

Congratulations!!! As the first place winner, you get a $50 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a $25 gift card to the Mochimochi Shop, AND this big heap of goodies straight from Japan!

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Thank you so much again to everyone who submitted photos in this year’s contest and everyone who took part in the voting. And a big thank-you to Knit Picks, who has generously supplied prizes for the second year in a row!

The photo contest is one of our favorite things that we do all year in Mochimochi Land, and we plan to carry on the tradition with our 5th annual contest in 2011! All photos uploaded to the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group until then are automatically entered in next years’ contest, so it’s never too early to get knitting and clicking!

Semifinalists ’10, Round Two

Posted on November 24, 2010November 24, 2010 by Anna

Thank you for supporting your favorite photos from the first round of semifinals (it’s not too late to put in your 2 cents in the comments!)—let’s keep it going with our second batch of super semifinalists! In no particular order:

Dust Bunnies run away! by kyoti

“No loss of suction” never looked so scary!

Bats hiding in maps by WyoLibrarian

Can’t decide which I like better, the photo or the rhyming concept. Both!

om-nom-nomination by mariannes_stuff

A little stop-motion magic goes a long way to explaining where the remote keeps disappearing to.

Tiny Cheeseburger on grill by vapmore

Perfect for those of us on a yarn diet!

Tiny Frog cools off by Bitter-Sweet-

Admit it, you wouldn’t mind sharing your drink with this cutie.

An Evening with Harold & Betty by onna stick

I don’t know about you, but I’d spend an evening with Harold and Betty anytime. So much knitted fun!

O’Feathers meets with the enemy by Deadly Knitshade

That’s a pretty sinister look in the cat’s eyes, but he’s probably just giving the pretty pigeon a good sniff…right?

Evil Bean! by GathGreine

If this Human Bean’s plot to take over the world works, soon we’ll all be knitting drones for the Evil Bean Empire!

Squirrel RS by Luluriel

A highly customized Squirrel on Wheels for a customized car! (I wonder if they’re embarrassed to show up at parties with the same customization…)

Chaos of Snowmen by flightsofyarn

So much is going on in this Snowman colony!

Congratulations to all of our semifinalists for their amazing Mochimochi knits and clever photos! So which of these ten photos would you like to see in the final round? Take a break from thawing that turkey, and root for your favorites in the comments!

The final anonymous voting will happen next week, so be sure to return for it!

And Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Semifinalists ’10, Round One

Posted on November 23, 2010November 23, 2010 by Anna

Here they are, our first 10 semifinalist photos in the Mochimochi Photo Contest! We’re presenting these to you in no particular order, and we need your help narrowing them down to the finalists. Don’t be shy—root for your favorites in the comments!

Never let yarn zombies near your knitted candy by eggandmuffins

Best yarn guts we’ve seen in a long time.

Garden room by missdollymix

This slug’s favorite show is All My Snails. TV Guy says he’s never heard of it.

Tums + Tubby by anilrac

A hilarious pattern combo!

Nuclear Bed Bugs by DutchMoeder

This photo is so convincing that I’m feeling a little worried about that cute kid..

Snow bowling by Paula Knits

These snowmen are feeling pretty exploited, and they’re going to form a union right after this game is finished.

Rain Dance by cupcakefields

So much to see in this busy scene! (Check out the whole series too.)

Bat in flight by Eskimimi

Beautiful effect!

Earl the Squirrel and Wally by cori.buchholz

Earl isn’t sure if he’s on board with this new fad in squirrel mobility…

Springing for an upgrade by mariannes_stuff

This is quite a tech-savvy frog (and knitter!)

Neck Nuzzler on Dignified Dog by Bitter-Sweet-

Love the use of the brightly patterned couch, and that is one gorgeous model!

These are all so amazing! But we must narrow them down, so which do you LOVE and want to see in the finals? Speak up in the comments, and we’ll use your feedback to determine the finalists.

The second batch of semifinalists is coming up tomorrow, so be sure to check back!