UPDATE: Congratulations to the winners!

UPDATE: Announcing our Honorable Mentions!

UPDATE: We’ve added exciting prizes from Franklin Habit and world’s largest yarn stash owner Bonney Teti!

Get your needles ready and your cameras charged: It’s now officially time to enter the 9th Annual Mochimochi Photo Contest!

Once again, we’re looking for the cutest, funniest, most interesting photos and videos of Mochimochi Land toys. There are two easy ways to enter: For photos, upload your images to the Mochimochi Friends group on Flickr by Tuesday, December 1st. For videos, post your entry to a publicly viewable website (like YouTube or Vimeo) and email us a link at info@mochimochiland.com by December 1st.

Winners will receive awesome prizes from our generous sponsors Knit Picks and Australian Homespun, gift certificates to the Mochimochi Shop, and more!

Eligibility

This contest is open to knitters worldwide. To be eligible, your photo or video 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 by Anna Hrachovec, or one of the free patterns on the Mochimochi Blog. The pattern may be modified, but not beyond recognition from the original design. (The use of Photoshop is OK, and other characters, including other knitted toys, are welcome to appear in your photo or video too!)

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

How to enter

PHOTOS: 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 may take 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.)

All photos uploaded since the December 1st deadline of the 2014 photo contest last year—with the exception of those entered in our summer “Back Page Contest”—are already entered in this year’s contest!

VIDEOS: First, upload your video to any public video sharing site (like YouTube or Vimeo). Then email us at info@mochimochiland.com with with subject line VIDEO ENTRY, and include a link to your video. Please do not send the video as an attachment. The length of your video can be anywhere from 30 seconds to around 3 minutes long. You can enter as many videos as you like, within reason.

Deadline

The last day to enter the contest is December 1st, 2015. We’ll announce the semi-finalist photos shortly thereafter here on the blog, then everyone will be able to vote for their favorites! So be sure to check the blog in December.

Like last year, the video entries will be judged by us instead of popular vote, but we’ll be sharing many of our favorite entries after the contest is over for everyone to enjoy.

Prizes!

The first place photo prize will include a $50 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a 12-month print subscription to Australian Homespun magazine, a $20 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop, and more surprise goodies.

Second place photo prize will include a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a 12-month print subscription to Australian Homespun, a $10 gift certificate to Mochimochi Land, and more surprises.

Third place photo prize will include a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a $10 gift certificate to Mochimochi Land, and more.

The winner of the video category will receive a 12-month print subscription to Australian Homespun magazine and this fun Giant Toys Kit from Knit Picks.

Thank you to Knit Picks and Australian Homespun for these generous prizes!

Needles ready? Cameras set? GO!

These friendly Ann Arbor elephants by maymansara are here to remind you the entries to the Back Page Contest are due next Monday, August 31st. That’s plenty of time to put together a fun photo using the back page landscape in Adventures in Mochimochi Land. (And if you can’t get a copy of the book in time, you can download and print it out and use free patterns from the book for your entry!)

The winner will get a sweet collection of books from Potter Craft and Potter Style, including the awesome Adventure Time Crafts, which I reviewed earlier this year.

And just between you and me, we haven’t had many entries so far, so your chances are great if you enter this week! See full contest details.

UPDATE: Congratulations to our winner, Tara!

UPDATE: If you don’t have access to a copy of the book right now, you can download the back page image to print out, and use one or more of the free bonus patterns that I’ve posted: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Tiny Nosey Fish, Sand Pennies, and Carnie Zebra.

If you’ve flipped through a copy of Adventures in Mochimochi Land, you may have wondered, What’s up with that back page?

It’s a mochimochi backdrop you can use to photograph your own mochi adventures. And we’re holding a summertime photo contest to see what you come up with!

Eligibility

The contest is open to knitters worldwide. To be eligible, your photo must include at least one knitted toy made from a pattern in Adventures in Mochimochi Land, and also must include the back page from the book. The page can be altered, but not beyond recognition. (You can cut it or fold it, but we suggest using a photocopy if you’re doing something like that!)

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

How to enter

To enter, add your photo(s) to the Mochimochi Friends group on Flickr. (If you don’t have a Flickr account, they’re free and easy to set up—we just suggest not waiting until the last minute to get an account.)

We ask that you limit your entries to no more than three (and those three can be a series if you like).

Deadline

The deadline is August 31st, 2015.

Prize!

After the deadline, John and I will review all of the submissions and choose our favorite. The winner will get these five cool books from Potter Craft and Potter Style!

Knitting Without Needles by Ann Weil, Sew Many Dresses, Sew Little Time by Tanya Whelan, The World Needs More Love Letters by Hannah Brencher, Adventure Time Crafts by Chelsea Bloxsom, and Novel Interiors by Lisa Borgnes

Let the back page adventures begin!