Mochimochiland at the gallery hanahou

Today after work we manage to make it to the gallery hanahou right before it closed.  I've had the appointment on my calendar since it first appeared on the Mochimochiland blog, but somehow we found ourselves with just one week left to make it there. 
Although I'd been seeing bits of the show as they appeared on the blog it was really amazing to see how everything came together.  One of the things that the blog didn't give away (or I missed it) is that there were narrative signs along the wall that point out different parts of the exhibit and tell little stories about them.

I really enjoyed all the creative combinations of designs that I'd only seen individually before and wanted to make them all.  I think I went around three times.

My mom met us there and Emma enjoyed being carried by her right at the height of the exhibit and examining all the scenes.

Emma also enjoyed hanging out with my mom in general.

She had to be coaxed to look my way at all.

Knitted Donut!

Tonight Todd and I went to City Bakery for their City Bakery Night of Knitting on the Rocks (With Chocolate Too!).  I learned about this fun and tasty event on the Mochimochi Land blog and signed right up.  I was lucky enough to find empty seats at the Brooklyn General Doughknits workshop table and we got to chat with Anna Hrachovec and the nice people from Brooklyn General.

This year they didn't try to have people do more than one workshop which was good, because last year there really just wasn't time. The tickets were significantly more expensive, which I think discouraged a lot of people from coming, but made for smaller crowds.

Although we spent most of our time at the Brooklyn General table I also met a nice woman from Knitty City who gave me a bag and a fun clicky tape measure in exchange for contributing to their charity project which will become a blanket to be sent to Japan.

Again they had tons of delicious food including their super rich hot chocolate and macaroni and cheese.  I managed to only get one serving of food, but ended up succumbing to two cups of hot chocolate.  Overall a fun and worthwhile event.

After Work Adventures in SF

This is the first post in a while that lives up to the name of this blog: I'm currently waiting to fly home on a redeye.  I've been coming to San Francisco three days a week for six out of the last seven weeks and tonight is the first time I've had time after work to do anything not work related.

Here is my cute little swatch.

My first stop was this yarn store I've been stalking for a few weeks. On my way to work each day I walk through the Union Square and Chinatown areas and one day I looked up to see a bright red sigh that read "Yarn." When I looked it up I discovered that it actually belonged to ArtFibers and that each day they stay open until 6pm.  I also perused their blog and found some of their patterns that I really liked.  As matter of fact I happen to be wearing a shawl collared sweater today when this caught my eye.  I'd nipped in right before they closed at 6, but Roxanne was nice enough to let me pet all the luscious swatches and then whip up a mini swatch of a purply maroon to see if that would be a good color for the collar and cuffs of the cropped jacket.

This is my swatch next to the sample of the body yarn. 
This picture really doesn't do justice to the rich colors of the yarn.

We thought it picked up enough of the colors in the multicolored main body that I should go ahead and use it.  The next step will be for me to go back next week when Roxanne will even adjust the pattern for my measurements and help me to figure out how much yarn I'll need.  And they are having a 15% off anniversary sale.  How nice is that!

After my fiber fix I had an nice little side trip to Victoria's Secret where I actually managed to use a couple of those coupons that turn up periodically in the mail and usually end up in the trash.  Don't think to hard about this - I bought something sensible. 

For my next stop I revisited a place Todd and I ended up at by accident during our trip in the fall: Lori's Diner.  I stopped by just to look at the menu and was lured in by the mozzarella sticks.  Then once I sat down at the table I decided to be adventurous and ordered the BBQ ranch salad too.  I turned out to be worth the gamble as it was a lightly dressed pile of crunchy (romaine) and healthy (mixed) greens with a zippy ranch/bbq dressing and nearly a whole avocado hidden under the entire chicken breast and the yummy dollop of shoestring onions.  

I know I should have had some self-restraint , but I ended up indulging and having a banana split to round things out.  The bananas, strawberries and cherries make this healthy right.  Anyway, I made a valiant effort and reduced their generous portion to this:

The nice people at Lori's even let me use their wireless internet and didn't seem to mind when I whipped out my laptop and monopolized a table for almost three hours (don't worry I left a very nice tip).  Now I just have a few more hours to kill until wheels up....

Knitting Mochimochi Critters

Now that I have more Mochimochi Land patterns than I know what to do with I've been a little overwhelmed at the prospect of knitting everything I want to knit.  However, Christmas provided the perfect opportunity to jump right in and add to me existing Mochimochi Land work which already includes her bat, sleepy snake and mischievous mouse, oscillating owlets, and the as yet unfinished sausage dogs.

I think the very first Mochimochi Land pattern I ever saw was Anna's Woodin pattern on Knitty.com.  As soon as I saw the Woodins I thought of my sister.  Sofia learned a song in pre-school called "Little Bunny Foo Foo" that she used to terrorize us with on car rides by singing over and over.  And for some reason I thought of Sofia and that song and knew I had to make them for her.  But things didn't quite go the way planned.  I meant to make the log that is part of the Woodin pattern, but I started to make it from the yarn left over from the owlets, but half way through I ran out of brown.  The LBYS didn't have any more skeins of the right color so I had to switch to grass so that I could give Sofia her present on Christmas while I waited until the right brown arrived in the mail (but the LBYS was nice enough to give me free shipping).

I've also been hanging on to the snowman pattern since last year so I decided to make stocking stuffers for each of my family members with a different color scarf for each person.  For Todd I also made an adorable little lion and since Esteban asked just in the nick of time I made him plucky mushrooms and a tiny gator. 

Aren't they all adorable? 

As a post holiday project I also started a tiny grouchy couch for Todd which ought to round out my first batch of knitting from Knitting Mochimochi nicely.  And I have a request for a confused moose that will be up next.....soooo much knitting and so little time!

A Spectacular Craftacular

This weekend turned out to be a super crafty weekend. First we made our awesome brooches and then we wore them to the BUST Magazine Craftacular where we got lots of compliments. I have to admit that I didn't know about BUST Magazine until we came across them at Maker Faire, but the more I learn about them the more I like them.

I'd meant to get there earlier but we didn't manage to arrive at 18th street until nearly 10am and when I saw the line going to 6th Avenue, up to 19th street and back around towards 7th I had a little pang (ok maybe a big pang) that I wouldn't get a goodie bag.

Here's the contents of my goodie bag, plush purchases, cards I picked up, and my brooch.

As it turned out we did get a lovely gift bag with nifty stuff and which conveniently helped me to cart my purchases to two holiday parties, then home.

Here Ginger sits on, I mean models, the drapey sweater that Sofia convinced me to purchase in turquoise.  I was drawn to these shirts by the interesting designs and then I touched them and they were so soft I knew I'd have to buy one.  The people at the Pomelo Press booth were really nice and the let me try it on and everything.

Ginger also wanted to be in all of the rest of my pictures to here she is with the latest edition of BUST magazine which as lots of stuff I really want to read. 

Did I mention Ginger tried to be in all my pictures?  As soon as I got everything laid out she promptly ran across the cards.  Todd advised that she wanted to be picked up so I tried, but what she really wanted was to stand on top of everything.

Some of the fun purchases I made also included these adorable little glycerin soaps in the form of the characters from Space Invaders from Lollibomb Beauty.  

At the by {craftgasm} table Sofia and I went through a whole basket of clever little buttons made from maps to find these buttons.  Our pics included buttons featuring Prag (or Praha) where we spent a mini vacation several years ago when I was visiting Sofia during her year in London.  Another featuring Helsinki which we seem to remember being a required stop in all Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego games.  Finally I was drawn to a button with a little flowery doodle. 

The nice woman at the Mama's Hungry table had chocolate cake made with Coca Cola that looked delicious and she told us about here list of good southern food in NYC which we were extremely interested in.

This postcard doesn't actually do justice to the beautiful and creative cards that were on display at Alton Weekes' table.  I could easily have gotten carried away and purchased several of them, but I took one of his postcards instead so that I could peruse them online.

One of the more unusual things we came across were little moss habitats from two different companies.  Twig Terrariums featured environments that included little scenes with figures and even an environment in a light bulb.  SPIRITelemental had more open pieces with many including crystals.  Two different takes on a nifty idea. 

Everyone has a friend with bottle cap magnets, or a bottle cap belt, or maybe a bottle cap covered bar, but I'd never seen bottle caps turned in to jewelry before, especially not jewelry that wasn't obviously a bottle cap.  Jen Roder makes elegant jewelry out of things that most people flick towards the trash, including earrings, pendants, and cuff links. 

There was actually a lot more food and than I would have expected and one of the food/drink tables featured tea where they gave out tiny samples of sweetened Peppermint Patty tea on the way in and Coconut Vanilla Chai on the way out.  not just tea had some really interesting flavors so I asked them to suggest a third and they came up with Butter Cookie so I came home with three little sample tins.

We spent nearly four hours at the Craftacular and we didn't see all of it.  There were two floors of tables, but there were so many people that it was still hard to move around and to see everything.  We visited Anna Hrachovec's Mochimochi Land booth where we got our dose of adorable mini knitted creations, but I had really hoped there would be more knitted, plush, and yarn related stuff. 

I guess I'll just have to get my knitting fix from the latest volume of Interweave knits...

I made a plush brooch!

Last year I went to Jenny Harada's workshop at gallery hanahou and I had a great time making a wee peppermint beastie.  So this year I was very excited to participate in her plush brooch workshop.  Here Sofia and I with our adorable wearable creations with the wonderful Jenny herself.  I can't wait to see what the workshop next year will be like.

Here is a closeup of my happy purple creation along side the postcard featuring the workshop with a picture of Jenny Harada's first three.

Oscillating Owlets and Sleepy Snake

Back in March I finished making these little guys, but some how I never managed to make a post about them. I think I just put them on Ravelry and then got distracted.  In light of my recent acquisition of many more Mochimochi Land patterns I wanted to make sure that all of the Mochimochi Land projects were already up here so that I could refer to them.  This is actually two different projects the Oscillating Owlets and the Sleepy Snake and Mischievous Mouse but when I was putting them together I added the snake and the mouse to the frame the owlets were in and I liked it so much I left them there.

The owlets were super fun and easy to make and I whipped them up during a LBYS event after purchasing the yarn for them there.  I wasn't paying attention when I started the snake so I was surprised at how big it turned out to be, but that makes sense if you realize that the mouse will need to fit inside the snake.

Knitting Mochimochi signing at LBYS

Sometimes it is good to have simple plans.  Today I wanted to just have a laid back evening after work  My plan went like this:
Step 1: Walk to the Shake Shack and procure a delicious treat.
Step 2: Walk to the Knitting Mochimochi book signing at the LBYS.
Step 3: Go home and walk dogs.

When I found myself still sitting at my desk at work at nearly 6pm I almost gave up and just went home, but I was lured down to Madison Square Park by the though of a cool, tasty concrete.  I'm glad I didn't go home because it turned out to be a fantastic evening.  First I got a hopscotch concrete from the Shake Shake.  Then I made my way to the Lion Brand Yarn Studio and as tasty as the concrete was, I had an even better time at the Knitting Mochimochi event.

There were many things that added up to a great event.  For starters all of the wonderful creations from the book were on display to see and touch.  Even better, Anna Hrachovec was really, really nice and fun to talk to, and I got to chat with her about about how she comes up with her original and creative patterns.  I bought two copies of Anna's beautiful new book and managed restrain myself from pouring over them long enough to ask her to sign them.

To top things all off I entered the raffle and I actually won!  I never win raffles.  Ever.  I never even get junk when my company gives away stuff vendors foist off on us.  But if there was ever a time for me to win a raffle I'm really glad that it was this one.  The prize was a copy of all the patterns from the Mochimochi Land store!  Isn't that fantabulous?!?!  I'm soo excited!!  I hardly know where to even begin....

Oh, and I took a second to grab a pair of sock blockers for the socks I've been working on, but I'm not sure I'll be working on socks again for a little while.

Home from PDX 2010

Our PDX 2010 trip was a great success and we can hardly wait to go back. In fact the more time we spend there the more we wish we could move there.
As always we brought back loads of great stuff.  In fact we actually ended up buying a new suitcase to fit it all.  From the left to right starting at the bottom: a myrtle spurtle from Bob's Red Mill country store, samples from Bob's Red Mill, a free bag clip and measuring scoop from Bob's Red Mill, chia seed purchased at Bob's Red Mill country store, a Bob's Red Mill magnet, books from Powell's, nail polish without formaldehyde, assorted chocolates from Moonstruck Chocolate, candy and a brochure from Ponzi winery, lovely purple sock yarn from Twisted, bright green yarn for a cedar leaf shawlette from Make One, tasty pastries from Two Tarts Bakery,  a DIY cheese kit from Powell's, linzer tart tea set cookie cutters from a pastry supply store, beer from Belmont Station‎, three cones of custom yarn from Yarnia, black and white yarn for a Jollyfish hat, and a sample of yarn soak from Yarnia.
What didn't make it into the picture is an assortment of wine from two wine tasting jaunts.  The wineries we visited included the Ponzi winery which produced a really fantastic bottle of wine we had once at The Tasting Room.  The reason they didn't make it into the picture is because Continental didn't manage to include the box we packed them in on our actual flight. 

PDX 2010 - Day 2

Bob's Red Mill

PDX 2010 - Day 1

This year we got to visit one of our favorite places with some of our very favorite people. We started off with a delicious brunch at Slappy Cakes where you can get anything on a pancake.  We opted for ginger batter and for toppings we chose scallions and lemon curd.  Although those sound like a bizarre combination, both really worked.  

Next we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through Portland's Rose Gardens.  I had no idea there we so many different types of roses is all different colors and smells. 

Next

This is just one of the many (many) pictures we took on our walk. 

In addition to the hundreds of types of roses, the gardens had sculptures

One of the gardens was the Shakespeare Garden.

And there was an outdoor theater.

Next

In the afternoon we visited a knitting store and our favorite book store. 

Todd opted for a coffee shop during the first half of the yarn store adventure.  He was nice enough to bring coffees for the yarn addicted admiring yarn and knitted samples at Knit-Purl. 

The yarn store also featured an extremely friendly Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that Todd made friends with.

After our yarn fix we poured over books, stationary, graphic novels and more at our favorite book store, Powell's.

Our first day was also Hannah's birthday so we celebrated with happy hour drinks and food at a local pub with an outdoor garden.

Last but not least we had fantastic birthday desserts at Papa Hayden's where we tried not to over do it.