Search Results for: installation

Lion Brand Yarn Studio Interview

Posted on by Anna

I had such a great time at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio last Thursday! They invited me to give an artist talk (coinciding with my installation) and do a book signing, and although I was nervous to speak in front of 50 people, I think it went well. It’s always a joy to meet knitters and share my crazy take on the craft with them, and I take so much energy back with me from these encounters. (Of course it was wonderful to see some familiar faces there too!)

For those who couldn’t make it out to the talk, here’s an interview that we taped beforehand:

Patty Lyons and all of the staff at the LBYS gave me the warmest welcome, and I even got to hang out with them after the event. It was probably the most lively conversation I’ve ever had with a group of knitters! They are a riot.

Big thank-yous to everyone at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio, and to everybody who came on Thursday!

Book Signing September 8 at Lion Brand Yarn Studio

Posted on by Anna

ttmm_lion

If you’re in the NYC area, I hope you’ll join me on Thursday, September 8th, at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio for an artist talk and book signing!

The book will of course be Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi (copies of my first book, Knitting Mochimochi, will also be available), and the artwork is my installation currently on exhibit, Mochimochimochimochimochi!

mmmmm4

Oh, and I’ll also bring my nifty book diorama that I showed here a while back…

ttmm_dio1

RSVP is required for this event, so sign up now at the LBYS website. Hope to see you there!

Mochimochimochimochimochi

Posted on by Anna

After nine months of knitting, my big colorful installation is up at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio!

mmmmm1

A lot of crazy went into this piece, and so I decided the title had to reflect that spirit. It’s Mochimochimochimochimochi. (Try saying it three times fast?)

mmmmm2

My final count of the colorful little guys was 372, but they’re hard to count now—they’re stitched so tightly together that some of the smaller ones can’t even be seen from the front anymore.

mmmmm3

If you’ve been following this project, you might remember that my original idea was just to knit as many mochis as I could, and then put them all together into one big mass of mochis. As my deadline approached, though, I started feeling less enthusiastic about a purely abstract piece, and I decided to add a couple of larger characters.

mmmmm5

These bigger guys give the finished piece some context, turning the crowd of mochis into a ball pit that they just jumped into.

mmmmm4

I am thrilled to have this up at such a great space, and I have the wonderful people at Lion Brand (especially Patty, Marni, and Edita) to thank for making this happen. Also, a big thank-you Koigu, who provided much of the bright, colorful yarn in the piece.

Mochimochimochimochimochi is on exhibit at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in NYC through the end of October. I hope you will stop by to see it if you’re in the Union Square area!

mmmmm6

I’ll also be doing a book signing at the Lion Brand Studio on September 8th. More info about that soon!

Mochimochi Worlds at Pictoplasma Festival

Posted on by Anna

Updates:

Photos from the show
More photos of the planets

pictoplasma1

This big round bear, along with the giant ball of yarn and the snowman that I’ve recently posted, is going with me to Berlin next month to be a part of the Pictoplasma Festival, an annual celebration of character art!

My pieces will be on exhibit from April 6th through the 10th in a new installation called “Mochimochi Worlds,” held at Smallspace gallery. If you’re in the area, please join us for the opening at 7 pm on April 6th!

The show will be part of the Pictoplasma Character Walk that is open to the public.

I’m so excited to be involved in the festival, and I’ve been having a blast working on this new show—it will be made up of nine randomly-themed planets and other celestial bodies. Knitters who stop by the gallery will be able to pick up patterns to make some of the alien life forms they see.

I can’t wait to go to Berlin for the first time and see what other character madness is happening at the festival!

Thank you to Lion Brand for providing Hometown USA and Wool-Ease Thick & Quick yarn for the big planet bodies.

becks

Interview in Knit Today

Posted on by Anna

Thank you to UK magazine Knit Today, who interviewed me for their December issue!

ktdec10_1

ktdec10_2

As you can guess from the photos, I mostly talked about my installation that was on exhibit in NYC in October. It’s really nice to have it get some coverage even after it’s been taken down. I also hope to show it somewhere else in the near future.

The next issue of Knit Today will include one of my patterns, so be sure to check it out!

Smitten with Seattle

Posted on by Anna

I just got back from an amazing trip to Seattle on Monday! My primary reason for the trip was Urban Craft Uprising, the big craft show last weekend where I had my first-ever craft show experience as a vendor. The show—and the whole trip, really—way exceeded my expectations. I was lucky enough to have my mother-in-law Bonney and my sister-in-law Jenna along with me, so we made a mini-vacation out of it that turned out to be a crafter’s dream weekend.

Among other things, we paid a visit to Schmancy, the vinyl and plush toy store in downtown Seattle, where Plush You! is held every year.

schmancy_seattle1

Kristen Rask is the owner (and one of the organizers behind Urban Craft Uprising)—she really has a gift for finding talented artists and bringing them together in successful ways. A true curator!

schmancy_seattle2

I’ve blogged about Schmancy before, but this was my fist time to visit in person. My wallet was definitely lighter by the time I left the store.

schmancy_seattle3

Next we were invited for a special visit to Cascade Yarns by Shannon, the lovely lady who provided yarn for my book and my installation this year.

cascade_seattle1

It was pretty unreal to see the place where all of the gorgeous yarns come from. Since their products are so popular, I was expecting a big company, but in actuality they have fewer than 20 employees, and we even got to have lunch with the wife of the founder of Cascade.

Everyone there was so nice, and many of them had made Mochimochi toys! Tammy had a pair of Bed Bugs right on her desk.

cascade_seattle4

Shannon was kind enough to take us on a tour of the warehouse, where each color of every yarn they make is on glorious display.

cascade_seattle2

I probably said “Oooh! Look at that color!” about 50 times as we went through each aisle. Even Bonney, of the world’s biggest stash, was in awe.

cascade_seattle3

We might have even gotten to take a few samples home with us…

And finally, Urban Craft Uprising was an incredible experience! The many talented vendors, the nearly 10,000 visitors, the awesome playlist that Moxie (president of UCU) put together to make the whole place happy… And here’s what my little table looked like!

ucu_display

My sister-in-law (who was a huge help at the event, along with my MIL) took some way better pictures that I’ll post soon.

I was a bit nervous to get out there in front of the general public with my silly knitted stuff, but everyone was so nice and enthusiastic!

I left out a ton of stuff that we did in Seattle, but this blog post would take me all day if I included everything. I love Seattle and I can’t wait to go back!!

Mochis in TV Japan Ad

Posted on by Anna

Just before my show opening last month, I was fortuitously connected with a producer for TV Japan, which is a Japanese-language network available in the US and Canada. She was making a commercial promoting the upcoming season of programming from Japan, and was looking for some cute models to create a fun city scene to intersperse between the show clips. It just so happened that I had recently created an entire knitted world for my show, so she borrowed almost the entire installation for the commercial!

Because the ad includes clips of shows that I don’t have rights to use, I unfortunately can’t show the finished product here (it aired in mid to late October on TV Japan), but the producer sent me some photos from the shoot!

tvjapan1

They did a live-action shoot of the little world, using something (wire or magnets, I think) to make toy cars move around. Aside from the cars, they also incorporated characters that the producer handmade herself.

tvjapan2

I wish I could have been there just to see how it was all done!

tvjapan3

It was very cool to have my toys involved in a commercial project, and I would love to do more things like this in the future.