Hello, I'm Twinkie Chan! I blog about crocheting, crafting, snacking, & life's hilarious adventures. By day, I work full-time at an arts & crafts education website as an artist coach & content editor. I don't blog as much as I used to, but you'll still find announcements here about new crochet patterns & projects.
February 28 – March 1, 2020: Keynote speaker at Midwest Craft Con in Columbus, OH.
Spring 2020: I’m an artist in Intangible – a colorful group fiber arts show in collaboration with Craft Yarn Council at Sweet Tooth Hotel in Dallas, TX. The show is open now! Please go see it if you can!
Here’s an oldie but a goodie. Are wearable pretzels cool anymore? I remember when I first started making these for my craft shows, they were really really popular!
The pattern is so easy that I never posted it anywhere. It did appear in Simply Crochet Magazine Issue 30 which was many many years ago!
A few people have asked about it recently, so I dug up some photos and notes and put a pattern together for you. Please enjoy, and I expect to see lots of cute outfits with your new crocheted pretzel brooches! Printer-friendly version is available in my Etsy shop for just $2.00.
Let’s knock out 2020 with THE BEST CROCHET PROJECT OF THE YEAR!!! It’s 100% Soft‘s Dumpster Fire!!! Truck asked if I wanted to translate his iconic and super popular Dumpster Fire into a crocheted plush, and I said OF COURSE.
I stayed as true as I could to his original vinyl toy. I didn’t want y’all just crocheting a box with some weak flames inside. This means that the construction is a little bit more involved than with some of my other projects, but I truly feel the results are worth it. I mean, just look at this dude!
I have a YouTube tutorial for you also. It’s my longest yet at 2 hours and 15 minutes long. Get ready to hunker down with me. If you don’t need the video, you can find the free pattern below, and also a more gorgeous, printer-friendly PDF in my Etsy shop.
I’m a bit late to blog about this, but this is happening 1 more time tomorrow, December 18, at 6pm ET. In collaboration with Joann & Creativebug, I’ll be teaching a free online class on how to make super cute felt gingerbread ornaments! Click here to RSVP and sign up!
You probably already have most of the supplies at home, and it’s very easy to substitute various trims and buttons. I do love these little DIY peppermint buttons, though. I kind of want to put them on everything!
You also have so much freedom to design whatever shapes of felt cookies you want! That little kitty cat cookie was a last-minute addition but has been getting so much love on Instagram. You still have time to hand-sew a bunch for your own tree or for gifts!
Here is a materials list for the class. Don’t forget to RSVP so that you can the link to the free class.
1 sheet of brown or tan felt
¼ inch baby rick rack in white
12 inches of twine, string, thin ribbon, or yarn
2 x 3/8 inch white buttons – these buttons must have 4 holes
2 x ¼ inch black buttons for eyes
Black embroidery floss or sewing thread
Red embroidery floss
Brown or tan embroidery floss to match your felt
Pink embroidery floss
Small amount of polyester stuffing
Tools
Cereal box, cardboard, cardstock, or regular paper
“Excuse me, but I couldn’t help but notice that strange and interesting plant in the window!”
Treetopia invited me to join their “13 Haunting Tales” Halloween tree campaign, and even though I had just completed my edible ornaments tree, I loved the idea of decorating my 7.5 foot Tuxedo Black in the theme of a favorite/classic Halloween character.
You can have a lot of fun decorating a Halloween tree! I went with a colorful monster theme for mine, PLUS most of my ornaments are EDIBLE. Treetopia graciously gave me a pre-lit Tuxedo Black faux Christmas tree. This one is 7.5 feet tall which made me realize my living room ceiling is not that high :P. But the black color is a very nice blank canvas for all of your spooky Halloween scenes.
I baked colorful monster sugar cookies and I also put together some gigantic marshmallow bloody eyeballs. I gotta tell you that the house smelled really good!
