Month: June 2014

Here’s some pretty fun Hello-Kitty-related news: First up for the crocheters, I just got an Amazon.com email newsletter announcing AmiguruMEI‘s Hello Kitty Crochet book. Pretty cool, right? You can pre-order it now, and it arrives in September! And, something for everybody: Hello Kitty’s first convention, Hello Kitty Con at MOCA in LA, October 30 – Nov 2! I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go, but I bought tix anyway cuz that’s who I am… Do you have a favorite Sanrio character? When I was in highschool, I was a Keroppi girl, but I am currently very into Purin and his hamster friend Muffin! (p.s. does anybody know the name of the little brown friend that he has? I don’t think it’s the squirrel. It’s something else. I used to have a teeny tiny plush of it years ago, and I wish I could find another one!)

Since I’m still working on a few projects that I can’t reveal yet … I thought I might make another Yarn Appreciation Post! A few days ago I put together some colors for one of my crochet elves to make cupcake slouchy berets for Renegade which is coming up soon (yes, I am freaking out! no, I haven’t been able to spend any time yet on new designs which I’m dying to write!). I am always on the lookout for the perfect pink when it comes to a nice, worsted weight acrylic. I recently stumbled upon Universal Yarn “Classic Worsted.” They have two shades of pink that I’m pretty crazy about, Bubble Gum 615 (picture above in Photo 1) and Pink Rose 7117 (pictured above in Photo 2) (the colors don’t look as good on their website, FYI). Classic Worsted is 80% acrylic and 20% wool, and I don’t find it itchy at all. Universal also has a 100% acrylic line called Uptown Worsted, but I haven’t played with that one yet. It looks like they aren’t displaying all their colors yet, and I wanted to see it all before placing an order. The weight of the Classic Worsted is a bit lighter than Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice or Deborah Norville Everyday Worsted.  If you are familiar with Knit Picks Brava Worsted, I would say that they are pretty similar, except Knit Picks has a bit more of a sheen. Classic Worsted needs to step it up in the blue/aqua/teal department, but I am definitely totally into these pinks! Most big box worsted acrylic pinks are too gray and washed out for me, or, just baby pink. These are definitely in the Pepto Barbie zone, which is right up my alley! Each ball is $6 from the Universal site, which is obviously a bit spendier than big box yarn prices, but for someone like me who depends on color to evoke a certain look or feeling, I’m happy to pay the extra!

You guys, I had no idea it was National Bomb Pop Day today!! I know it’s supposed to be summer time and popsicle time, but it’s like 60 degrees and gloomy where I live by the ocean! BRRR!! Anyway, if you wanna pick up a crocheted bomb pop brooch/hair clip, or pick up a pattern to crochet one of your own, hit up this link right here to my Etsy shop! <3

Hey, pizza-lovers! The Pizza Scarf at YummyYou.com is waiting for you! It is super soft and super tasty-looking with bright yellow cheese, a bubbly crust, and tons of pepperonis! We also released our new BFF (PFF?) Pizza Heart Necklaces for you and your pizza-best friend-forever! These amazing mini heart pizzas are another collab with jewelry artist Fatally Feminine Designs! You each get half of the heart-pizza, and when you get together, you can combine your pizza-heart-powers! The “Partay! Pizza Partay!” song from the Pizza Party board game commercial back in the 80s is TOTALLY STUCK IN MY HEAD!!!!!!! I’ll try go get more pics of these soon. If you guys get one, you can always tag @Yummy You on Facebook or #yummyyou on Instagram (@iloveyummyyou) so that we can see! <3

I made a little video while crocheting my Pocky painting! The music is by my buddy Twink the Toy Piano Band!   You still have time to enter to win this painting by logging into Facebook and liking the photo of my Pocky painting at the top of Pocky – GlicoUSA’s page :).

Yay! I get to show you one of the projects I’ve been working on! I’m collaborating with Pocky to bring you this fun giveaway! The prize is a one-of-a-kind crochet painting by me, in Choco Pup Pocky flavor! I made a cute lil progress video for it, too, and I’ll letcha know when that goes up. To enter to win, you must “like” this photo on Pocky’s Facebook page. Giveaway ends next Thursday, June 26, because on Friday, they are starting a new designer giveaway! A month of designer Pocky fun! Good luck! <3  

It’s the 15th of the month, so it’s time to launch a new blog sponsor giveaway! Thanks so much to my generous sponsors for offering us these wonderful goodies! One lucky winner will receive:

Sorry this is another non-crochet-related post!! I’m still furiously plugging away at a lot of fun projects and collabs. One will be revealed next week! 😉 Today was pretty warm in my house, and I have to do laundry, so I started pulling out some clothes from the depths of my wardrobe. This cute peplum top is really fun. I love a peplum on a shirt! And I love me some polka dots! BUT, it buttons in the back, so I have to dislocate my shoulder and grow a third arm to button my own shirt. Shorts are definitely not something I wear a lot with just naked skin underneath. But I was the only one home, and I wasn’t trying to impress anybody, and my legs are unshaved, but whatever!!! I am really insecure about my bottom half (I am sure I have blogged about this before) because I feel like I have fat knees and big thighs and big calves and cankles and bow legs.  Everything is also just getting bigger and weirder on my body as I approach the big 4-0, but I try to remember that beauty doesn’t just look like one thing, and that I should wear shorts if it’s hot and I need to! Um, but we are going out later tonight, and I will be putting on some tights or pants and re-doing my hair. Sorry. That’s just how it goes. When I got dressed today, I thought I was going to be sitting on the floor and crocheting in hermit-town. And taking an outfit photo for posterity. Cuz, I buttoned this damn top. And I am rarely this un-accessorized, but I still felt like it was a pretty cute outfit (minus the old lady up-do.) I realize there is an element of narcissism with selfie-culture and with outfit photos, but I think the positive side of that is making an attempt to love your body and be okay with workin’ with what ya got and letting other people know it’s ok for them to wear shorts, too. I especially wanted to post the shorts because they look kind of flared out at the bottom on some people, but on us juicy-thighed mamas, they are still pretty snug all around! They are definitely stretchy, tho, so they are not torture chambers of denim. Have a great weekend everybody!!! <3 *** Peplum top: Forever 21 (from a while ago), High-waisted shorts: ModCloth, Shoes: ModCloth (similar)

I almost forgot I took these photos!! After I shot the apron photos, I threw on this super casual outfit, which I dubbed: Farmer Batman. Manda texted me from Target, showing me photos of these overall shorts that she was buying, and I told that I wanted one, too! Personal shopping, whatwhat! As it turns out, she and I also have the same leggings because we bought them once while shopping together. I wore this cute Barbie tank top underneath (the apron, too!). How was your weekend? I spent most of it helping Manda to apartment-hunt in San Francisco. It is so dismal out there. Like, not a lot of listings, and everything is outrageously expensive! At least we had some good laughs, and some good food! (Hello, birthday cake milk shake!) Overalls: Target, Tank top: I’m Your Present, Leggings: H&M, Shoes: Forever21

Back in March, I was asked to set up a display of chocolate-themed crochet work at the San Francisco Chocolate Salon. “ChocolateTV” on Hulu was also there to document the event! My work pops up pretty much in the beginning of the clip for a quick flash. I remember walking into the art area, and the air smelled SO GOOD (I think it was the chocolate paintings!).

Dottie from Dottie’s Diner asked if I would model an apron for her, and after checking out her shop, I said, yes of course of course!!! She also sent the cherry thigh-highs as well as a cute tutu to go underneath. So thoughtful!

Here’s another pattern that was originally on Michaels.com in Dec 2013! “I wanted to round out our craft-tastic 2013 with a pattern for one of my yummy food scarves, so I asked my Facebook fans for advice on which holiday pattern they’d like to see most. The winning votes went to this Snowflake Sugar Cookie Scarf, which I really love because it celebrates the season and has a sugary elegance without being too over the top. For a quicker project, you can work up a single snowflake sugar cookie and turn it into a brooch or hair piece. Happy Holidays and a sweet New Year!”

I know a lot of you have noticed that all my free patterns on Michaels.com have disappeared. And it’s not that I’ve been singled out, but if you check out “all crochet” patterns on the site, you’ll see there’s a grand total of TWELVE patterns, where there used to be hundreds. Now that Michaels.com allows you to shop online (yay! finally!), they also started to revamp their entire pattern section, so that you can check out a pattern and then also have links to all the materials you need to complete the project. Plus, the pattern layout is MUCH prettier and more modern-looking!! I can imagine that overhauling hundreds of knit and crochet patterns is a huge undertaking. I asked Michaels if they thought my patterns would end up back on the site one day or if they were starting from scratch. The idea seems to be that all the patterns will go back up in their new and improved format, but it will take some time. Meanwhile, I’ve been  trying to load up the patterns here on my blog when I have free time, but as you could see from my mysterious Mad-Lib-style blog post, my free time is a bit sparse right now! I also need to update the links in past posts so that you guys don’t keep getting linked into a black hole ;). So I’m working on it! I also just wanted to say how much I’ve appreciated all the support here for my patterns and my work. I definitely don’t make a lot of money doing what I do, so when I get messages from you guys letting me know you were inspired to learn to crochet or that you like my wacky weird take on crochet, I feel really grateful and happy that we can all share this fun craft together! I hope Sarah doesn’t mind if I single out her comment :P. I just got it today and it was Michaels-related, plus it was super duper nice! Also I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to teaching or making video tutorials, so I’m glad that they are helpful!