Trend: Kawaii – Craft Gossip

There is a fun trend coming to the US from Japan termed “kawaii”, pronounced “ka-why-ee”, the simple definition is “cute” and it’s a big trend in clothes, food, toys and even crafts and stamps. This trend borrows alot of influences from Japanese anime and manga forms of animation. Here’s a wikipedia page if you’re interested in more info. I wanted to share some of the great stamp shops that focus on kawaii, the images are so sweet and so much fun!

NikoArt has some of the most adorable kawaii stamps, Nicole Holi is the wonderful illustrator for these stamps. You can buy wood mounted sets or individual stamps. I particularly love this Forest Friends set:

image by Niko Art

and this cupcake:

image by Niko Art

The Mayberry Sparrow offers terrific hand carved kawaii style stamps like this absolutely adorable bunny:

image by The Mayberry Sparrow

Craft Pudding offers cute tiny wood mounted stamps like this girl with a bird on her head, how sweet is that??:

image by Craft Pudding

Craft Chi offers fun little acrylic stamp sets like this fruit and nut set:

image by Craft Chi

Hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into the fun world of kawaii stamps!

-Heather

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I’ve always wanted to knit a mohair sweater. It just seems to me like the ultimate in comfort and a bit of luxury, and I would probably live in such a sweater all winter long if I had one.

Now might be the time to finally make my mohair sweater dreams a reality, thanks to the Summer Lotus Blouse, a free knitting pattern from Hobbii.

Don’t take the “summer” in the title too literally, because it’s worked with two strands of mohair held together, so while it will be super light weight it will also be plenty cozy to wear throughout the year.

The sweater is worked from the top down in stockinette stitch with I-cord edgings for a super clean look. It uses a larger than expected needle to keep it airy and light, which also speeds up the process.

One thing that’s cool about holding two strands of yarn together is that they don’t have to be the same color. These sweaters end up looking like they use a solid color but they’re actually worked with two different colors, which gives you so many more options. Pick two harmonious colors or shades of the same color, or go wild and pick two colors that are quite different and see what happens. You could also, of course, hold two strands of the same color if you like, but part of the fun of knitting with mohair is seeing how the colors play with each other.

This pattern is available in six sizes, ranging from an actual chest measurement of 30.3 to 44.1 inches, or 77 to 112 cm. It’s meant to be worn with about 2 inches/5 cm of negative ease, but you can choose a different size if you don’t want such a snug fit.

You can grab the pattern for free and check out all the yarn options at Hobbii.

[Photo: Hobbii]

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