Anna Hrachovec - Super-Scary Mochimochi: 20+ Cute and Creepy Creatures to Knit

Copyright 2012 by Anna Hrachovec

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Potter Craft, an imprint of
the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House,
Inc., New York.
www.pottercraft.com
www.crownpublishing.com

POTTER CRAFT and colophon is a registered trademark of
Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hrachovec, Anna
Super-scary mochimochi: 20+ cute and creepy creatures to
knit /
Anna Hrachovec; photography by Brandi Simons. 1st
edition
pages cm.
Includes index.
1. AmigurumiPatterns. 2. Soft toy making. I. Simons, Brandi,
illustrator. II. Title.
TT829.H733 2011
745.5924dc23 2011046773

eISBN: 978-0-307-96577-6

Cover photographs by Brandi Simons

Photographs on the following pages copyright 2012 by
Brandi Simons: ,
,
,

Photograph copyright 2012 by Jenna Leigh Teti

All other photographs copyright 2012 by Anna Hrachovec

The author and publisher would like to thank the Craft Yarn
Council of America for providing the yarn weight standards
and accompanying icons used in this book. For more
information, please visit www.YarnStandards.com.

v3.1

Thank you to John, always my cheerleader and my first consultant on design and the written word. Many, many thanks to Brandi for her gung-ho spirit, endless creativity, and talent with a camera. The whole Simons familyMike, Sonnie, and Sarahdeserves lots of ice cream for their hours of help and patient modeling. Another big thank-you to my sister-in-law, Jenna, for her photography session with my two drowsy cats.

Thank you to Robert Sheaff at the University of Tulsa and Jeremy Hopkins at Modern Day Dentil in Owasso for their generosity with space and equipment that is normally used for much more important tasks.

My thanks to Audrey for her help with brainstorming weird monsters, and to Angela for her advice about lacemaking and also her testing help. As always, my parents and sister, Leah, supplied ideas and multiple props, even if they werent aware of it because they were on vacation at the time.

I cannot thank my testers enough for making the patterns in this book user friendly. Many thanks to my mother-in-law, Bonney, and to Denise, Jennifer, Jenny, Jessica, Joan, Kari, Kelly, Kristen, Lisa, Marilyn, Mary, Marti, and Rikke.

Thank you to Shannon and Stacy at Cascade Yarns for supplying the beautiful yarn used in every project in this book.

I am extremely grateful to Joy Aquilino for her concept and initiation of the publication process. Thank you to my editor, Betty Wong, and to Caitlin Harpin for diligently seeing the book through its publication journey. Many thanks to Linda Hetzer for her careful and always thoughtful editing. I am also very thankful for the support and enthusiasm of Kimberly Small and everyone else at Potter Craft.

Did I scare you? Yeah, I didnt think so. Ive been working really hard on my big, scary font and everything, but I still havent gotten it down yet. Oh, well. Ive come to accept that Im a very unintimidating knitter of toys, but the fibrous monsters, beasts, and ghoulies that lurk in these pages are under the impression that theyre all really scary. Like, SUPER-SCARY. In reality, they couldnt even scare my cat, and he gets spooked if you sneeze. I like to think the creatures that inhabit this book are more cute than scary, though I would never say that to their faces.

You see, under all that ego, the mochis in Super-Scary Mochimochi have a sensitive side, so do me a favor and indulge them just a little. Give them your best horror-movie scream when you turn the page, would you?

Other than some emotional reassurance, what do these adorable abominations want from you? They want you to confront your fears by re-creating them for yourself, of course! The projects in this book will have you knitting some of the oddest toys youve ever seen, from teensy-weensy zombies to a big tooth-eating tooth, and you can even dream up your own creepy concoctions with the Mix n Match Monsters chapter. Make them for anybody who could use a good scream or a good laugh. Silly scary stuff has no age limits!

With a little innovation, your version might even be a little scarier than the originals. And, if you think about it, whats more dangerous than a clever knitter wielding yarn and needles? So with this guide in hand, go forth and knit up some creatures that will go bump in the night, eat your iPad alive, or just stare back at you in a deeply unsettling way.

Knitters, are you prepared to release your inner Dr. Frankenstein? To set loose on the world toys that only a madman could love? If so, the right book for you is now in your clutches.

Knitting a toy is not as scary as it looksas long as you dont feel queasy at the sight of pointy needles, stitchy seams, and fluffy guts. But beware! Youre about to become prisoner to a new knitting addiction. Theres no turning back now, so its time to familiarize yourself with the raw materials youll be working with.

Monster-y mochis can be made out of all kinds of yarn: thin, thick, wooly, or synthetic. Combining different colors and textures is part of the fun of knitting toys, which give you great freedom to experiment.

Most of the toys in this book are made with wool yarn in three different weights, depending on the project: fingering (thin yarn suitable for tiny knits and small details), worsted (a medium-weight yarn used for many types of knits), and bulky (a still-thicker yarn that knits up quickly).

Yarn is made from a wide variety of materials. All can be used for knitting toys, although there are differences in how different fibers look, feel, and wear over time. Here are some common fibers.

WOOL I like to knit with wool because of its soft, flexible feel. There are many different blends and varieties of wool yarn available; wool blended with synthetic fibers and superwash wools are easier to wash than all wool.