(Please Vote For Me!) My Entries in the Mochimochi Land Annual Photo Contest

Before I get into the details (in case you're only here for a quick read) - Please click here and vote for my video entry for this contest! I'm one of the 3 finalists and your vote would be greatly appreciated :) Read on if you have a moment to learn more about what this all is, lol.

Each year, Anna of Mochimochi Land hosts a photo and video contest. The idea is to use items you have made using her patterns and make some type of clever photo scene or video. I entered for the first time last year, and almost immediately after that deadline I thought of other ideas for the contest. I decided to use those ideas for this year's contest :) This meant I technically had a whole year to make it happen so I shouldn't be doing things at the last minute like last time (hahaha, yeah that's funny). Being me though, I waited until the final week to pull things together. I knitted my pieces throughout the year, but I didn't actually take pictures and whatnot until a week before the original deadline of March 31st. I was thrilled when the deadline was extended for another month. I used to take pictures as a side gig, but I never dabbled in video. Last year's video suffered for this - I still am super tempted to remake my video now that I know a bit more what I'm doing because I do believe in the idea and that it could've been cute if it was executed better. Anyway, this year's video was a long time coming  - it's cheesy and ridiculous and I'm pretty proud of it. I present to you: Stringer Things. (you can watch it here, or you can click here to watch it and to vote!).

This was quite the process to make! I definitely learned a lot of what I would do differently next time, but for my first real (and somewhat successful) animation I think it turned out rather well. Maybe my story was a bit too ambitious for a short video, but if you've seen the show Stranger Things I think it's still funny. I made all of the items you see in the video. I made Mike and Eleven especially for this, but the rest are items I've made over the years. Even the backdrop and ground are actually sweaters I've knitted :) No matter what happens in the contest, I did have a lot of fun making this (and I think my family did too - thanks, Kelly, for doing my audio!)

So anyway, there are 3 finalists in the video contest and the prizes are pretty sweet, so I would greatly appreciate if you could CLICK HERE TO VOTE. Please do watch the others and vote for your favorite. The others did a great job.

My photo entry received an honorable mention again this year. I will confess that I feel like I dropped the ball with this idea. My original plan was to recreate a Degas ballerina painting with mini knitted dancers. I needed a handful of ladies to make this work, but I only managed to make 2 :/ Womp womp. So while my Degas Project may still happen one day, I decided to use the two I had to make a different scene. I call this picture Ballet at the French Court:

Again I used a hand knit sweater for the background (interestingly though I did not knit this one! I bought the pattern sample from Emma Welford for her Polonaise Cardigan so I got the style I love but didn't have to make it myself! lol). I thought the bow and lack of buttons at the front was perfect to act as a stage curtain. The mini Notre Dame is a paper postcard I bought in France years ago and finally built. Anyway, it was fun even if it wasn't what I originally intended. I'm glad I got an honorable mention though :)

So that's another of my big deadlines met this year. Again I would greatly appreciate if you would CLICK HERE TO VOTE, lol have I said that enough yet? The voting is open until May 20th, so please do so promptly. Thank you so much if you do vote, and I will be sure to mention the outcome here when it is announced!