via GIPHY Huzzah! It’s a new tiny dragon pattern for this year of the dragon and your Lunar New Year celebrations! Also available as a kit! 2024 may be full of daunting unknowns right now, but let’s embrace the spirit of the dragon and approach the coming months with boldness and curiosity and a bit of fire ..read more

Ten years ago I got to work with an incredible team of creative people at Nickelodeon to make a collection of network IDs for the holidays. It was the opportunity of a lifetime and an experience I’ll cherish forever. Together we came up with the concepts and I worked like crazy to knit up a ton of characters and props, including some Nick stars that I got to render in yarn. Then we did an intense 2-day shoot in Times Square to make the stop-motion magic happen. I remember feeling bittersweet when it was over, because this unique educational and affirming experience was coming to an end, and ..read more

Chicago friends, I’ll be vending at Dovetail Brewery’s holiday market this Saturday, 12/2—come on out for some chill holiday shopping! This will be my first holiday market in…13 years!? I’m pretty excited. I’ll have copies of my new picture book, a bunch of cat kits, a few lil knitted friends, and more. There will be good food and cool vendors and of course great beer. Hope to see you there, 1-7 on Saturday 12/2 at 1800 W Belle Plaine ..read more

Chicago Friends! Here I am realistically posing in front of The Bloomin’ Spindle, in real life, with my real new book. Come see me here on Sunday 11/26 at 11am for a book signing and trunk show! I’ll be hanging out until 2pm or so with books, cat kits, and probably some cat animations too. If you haven’t visited The Bloomin’ Spindle, it’s a gem of a yarn store and well worth the trip from wherever you are. Hope to see you there ..read more

It’s cozy cat season, and ny newest pattern is all about getting cozy between the pages of a favorite book! Inside Cat will mark your place in the coziest possible way and offer snuggles when it’s reading time too. The pattern is now available for FREE as a surprise in the Deep Fall 2023 issue of Knitty! I designed this project to be advanced-beginner friendly, incorporating I-cord, flat knitting, and a bit of circular knitting. Use whatever yarn you like and corresponding needle size—I used worsted-weight yarn (Tosh Vintage in GG Loves Speckles) and a set of size 5 US (3.75mm) double-pointe ..read more

I’ll be teaching knitting cats, unicorns, and all things stop-motion animation at Knitting LIVE by Vogue Knitting in January! Come join me and a slate of talented teachers and makers in NYC for a long weekend of all things fiber arts! Here’s the schedule and class descriptions: FRIDAY 1/26 10:30-11:30 am LECTURE: STOP-MOTION ANIMATE YOUR KNITTING Did you know that knitting and animation go together beautifully? Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochi Land will share how she turned her tiny knitted toys into animated stars of the internet and an upcoming television show, all with basic materials and a t ..read more

Catside Up, Catside Down is now on sale everywhere! To get my new book of cats and prepositions, just ask or it AT your local bookstore, or order it FROM your favorite website. If you placed a preorder, check INSIDE your mailbox! This is my first-ever picture book. It’s a slightly scary thrill to finally have it out in the world. There’s a lot of me in this book—my goofy rhymes, my photography—and, of course, my more than 50 knitted cats! I hope the cute kitties will engage kids and charm grownups, and maybe inspire some people to make something with yarn. Speaking of yarn, the yarns I used ..read more

Exciting cat news: It’s a new “Hang in There” Cat kit! I’m thrilled to offer a limited number of these kits featuring custom yarn hand-dyed by Grace at Gnome Depot Fiber right here in Chicago. Grace and I worked together to come up with four sweet kitty colors to choose from: Orangey, Gray-y, Light Brown-y, and Party! The kit comes with an advaced-beginner-level pattern (written in both flat and circular versions), lovely yarn to knit a cat, lovely yarn to cover a stick for your cat to hang from (and knit a leaf of two), polyester stuffing, plastic safety eyes, and… an authentic Chicago sti ..read more

We’re hanging’ in there in this hazy midwestern air this week On a less miserable note, I’ve got a pattern update and an upcoming “hang in there” workshop to share! I’m planning to make kits for this persistent little guy in different cat colors. More on that soon! And if you’re in the Ann Arbor area, I’ll be doing a workshop around this project later this summer! Please join me for a “hang in there” cat knitting event at the Ann Arbor District Library on August 12th! I’ve done quite a few workshops at this wonderful library over the years, and I’m thrilled for my post-covid return. Plus! I ..read more

The Wooly Woods happened TEN YEARS AGO this spring! This was a project that started when Superstorm Sandy came through Brooklyn, where I was living at the time, and among its milder effects were lots and lots of downed trees and branches in nearby Prospect Park. I saw a lot of beauty in the scattered wood, and started taking pieces home to use as little landscapes for my creatures to play in. It was a meditative pleasure covering the twigs with colorful stripes of yarn, and I loved finding nearly endless ways to use the happy twists and bends in the wood as places for perching, nesting, and ..read more