Month: January 2016

If you are a subscriber of Yarn Crush, then you might have already received your January yarn box, filled with 5 yummy candy-colored mini-skeins, a knit pattern by Spilly Jane, and a crochet pattern from me! They’re Pretty Parfait Fingerless Mitts! I think the pattern is a fun one for intermediate beginners, because you can practice working some basic texture stitches like the puff stitch, working in back loops only, front post stitches, and alternating tall stitches with short stitches. I don’t normally work with sportweight yarn in my patterns, so if that’s your thang, you’re gonna be stoked. (Yarn Crush’s photo of the whole box put together… so cute and bright!)  We got to help pick the colorway for these mini skeins of merino yarn, and I really love how yummy and candylicious this allowed the mitts to look. (Yarn photo from Yarn Crush.) I was going to call these something like Birthday Cake Fingerless Mitts, but my buddy Candace saw them and said they looked like parfaits, and that seemed to make more sense to me. Here’s a fun random fact: while I was shooting these photos in my bedroom, the smoke alarm went off because Manda burned some of her hair off with a hair-dryer and a round brush with a metal core. Be careful with those round brushes, folks. Don’t daydream and blow-dry. I had a lot of weird “hands around face” photos, so here is the least weird one! Glove Modeling is probably not in my job search for 2016. If you love what you see, you should check out Yarn Crush! Most of these January boxes have already gone out, but she may have a few extra boxes left. Don’t be shy about emailing Yarn Crush if you’re interested! New yarnies and patterns every month, for knitters and crocheters. New subscribers will get a free notions pouch filled with goodies (like mini skeins, patterns, and tools) all worth about $20 just for signing up for a 3-12 month prepaid plan. This gets shipped out shortly after signing up. Anyone who would rather go month-to-month instead of prepaid can use the coupon code HELLO to get 15% off their first month. Thanks so much to Yarn Crush for inviting me to design for the January box! I might be designing for another Yarn Crush box in the summertime, so stay tuned! If you’re like, “I already have some really cute sock weight yarn, and I would really just like the pattern itself,” well we got you covered, too. The pattern is for sale on Ravelry.com! It’s my first time putting a pattern for sale on Ravelry, and honestly, there have been a few kinks. Specifically, my PayPal was not talking to my Ravelry, so when I received a payment, Ravelry didn’t know to send the pattern info to people. THE WORST, RIGHT!? I’ve been talking to Ravelry, though, and trying to figure out the issue. It looks good on my end now (before, I was noting zero sales on […]

Final voting is open for the 2015 Super Cute Kawaii awards! Click here to check out the finalists and get the link  to the voting form! I’m kinda surprised I’m in the mix again, because I feel like I dropped the ball a little on crocheting/blogging while I was writing my book for most of the year, but I do appreciate all the support and hope to bust out a kabillion cute things in 2016! 😀 I’m off to vote for some favorites and friends!

I posted one of these photos on my Instagram but thought I’d stick em on my blog, too! I was scrolling through the activity feed on IG a few weeks ago and ran into a picture of a girl and boy in these super funny sunglasses. I didn’t really know how to search for that specific pair online (“cute sunglasses,” “kawaii sunglasses,” “anime sunglasses”), and then I discovered that you can print your own novelty sunglasses on Zazzle.com. There are already a bunch of styles available for purchase, but I still didn’t run into the ones that I wanted. So, I loaded up Photoshop and drew my own pair. I kinda love them! (But I wouldn’t, like, drive a car in them….) If you guys end up printing your own glasses, you gotta show me! They cost me about $11 to print before shipping, and I could see these being a fun party favor! P.S. I’ve been sick the past week or two PLUS I’ve been completing my 2015 bookkeeping to prep for tax stuff, so I have been taking a bit of a crochet break. BUT, I do plan to film a crochet tutorial for YouTube really super duper soon! I promise! I’ll just edit out my coughing! 😛

(This post contains some affiliate links.) When it comes to makeup/beauty stuff, I’m usually the one asking the questions, so I don’t really post about that much here. HOWEVER, as every winter approaches, I find the skin on my face getting dryer and dryer, and in my search to find something to soothe my freaked-out skin, I thought I would share some discoveries with you guys. To start, I have always had really oily skin, oftentimes prone to breakouts, which I could stave off with regular exfoliation. For most of my 20s, I didn’t even moisturize most of my face, just some dryer areas like around my mouth or on my eyelids. As I got a bit older, my skin started to change a little and I was also worried about skin care for wrinkles, so I started lightly moisturizing every day and night. I still am prone to regular oiliness, and I blot my face like a mofo, but it’s like I have a dry, flakey base with oil on top. Really awesome, right? It sounds like dehydrated skin to me, but my face reacts poorly to things like hyaluronic acid, so I’m always trying to find ways to feed my skin without boosting the oil. I know there are also things you can eat, like fish, nuts, avocados, flax, supplements, etc. that can help your skin, and I could probably do more of that as well. For the past few years, I’ve been a Kiehl’s girl as far as moisturizers, but this winter, it wasn’t enough. I explored the world of OILS. I’ve found that any oil alone is not enough to moisturize me overnight. I apply the oil first, and then I put on my moisturizer. I’ve tried Algenist Anti-Aging Repairing Oil, Josie Maran Light Argan Oil, jojoba oil, maracuja oil… there are tons and more. What I was looking for was something that would keep my nose and forehead from flaking during the day. I also tried using different oils for day and night, but day-time oil application usually leaves me a little too oily. Here’s my current skincare regimen which I’m pretty happy with. Morning: Wash with Algenist Gentle Rejuvenating Cleanser. I super love this cleanser! One tube lasts forever, because a tiny drop goes a long way. The longer you massage it into your skin, the more moisturized you get. Manda has super sensitive skin, and she likes it, too. (I don’t tone because I’m lazy and have never found one that has blown me away.) Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Moisturizer – this has been my go-to forever. I can use it day and night during the summer, but I need something heavier at night during the winter. I use a La Roche-Posay sunscreen in SPF 40, but it seems to be hard to find at the moment. You can check out their other sunscreens here. Mine has an oil-absorbant quality which I like a lot. Night: Wash with Neutrogena Oil-Free Deep Clean Cream Cleanser. I’ve just been using this […]

I’m excited to launch our first blog sponsor giveaway of the year! I’m so sorry it’s a day late. I’ve been under the weather and doing everything in super slow motion :-o. Thank you so much to my wonderful and generous blog sponsors for these super fun prizes. ONE winner will receive:

I have a fun surprise for you! I’m going to be a guest on Creativebug.com’s livestream tomorrow, Thursday, January 14, at 4pm PST.  We’re going to be chatting about our New Years resolutions and also doing a fun(ny) and creative drawing exercise! Come see me draw some weird stuff ! The Facebook event is here, and the actual YouTube link we’ll be streaming at is here. See you then!

I cannot stop obsessing over Amuse’s Tsuchineko plush kitties! They’re legs and feets are supposedly tucked underneath them so that they look like little loaves! They’ve been around for a while and are not like the new-new thing, but every time I see them in Japantown, I’m so tempted to take one home! They all have their own names, and they come in all different sizes. Here’s me with sleepy Chabuchi! I might not have the strength to leave her at the store if I see her again. NormaLynn aka the Crochet Cake Sachet gal snapped this a few weeks ago! (p.s. you should check out her Etsy shop, filled with yummy crochet patterns.) They also come in super jumbo size, which you can get on OtakuMode! (p.s. thanks to SuperGood for showing me OtakuMode! Now I have another website to salivate over! If you sign up for an account using my invite link, you’ll get $5 to shop and so will I!) IS IT MY BIRTHDAY YET? Not until August… I was thinking of maybe trying to crochet one. I don’t think that the yarn will have the same squishy soft effect, though. I remember when I was obsessed with Pound Puppies, Manda’s grandma was like “I can just crochet one for you,” but it totes was not the same!

Super Cute Kawaii – your daily dose of handmade cuteness and Japanese kawaii – has opened nominations for their 2015 SCK Awards! Click on over to their website to learn more! Last year, I was so super duper honored and surprised to win as favorite blogger and to receive 2nd favorite maker as well as kawaii person!  Here’s an interview with me after learning I had won! I had no idea the awards were even happening and was really amazed about and thankful for everyone who voted for me. I feel like I kinda slacked off a bit on the blogging and the making and the kawaii-being this year while working on my book, so I can’t wait to see who y’all nominate and vote for for 2015 :).

I realized I never actually showed you guys the cover of my book coming out in the spring! I mentioned it on Twitter and kinda mentioned it on Facebook, but here it is! It’s available for pre-order, too! You can already find it on Amazon.com (affiliate link), BarnesAndNoble.com, and IndieBound.com. (Possibly other major book retailers that I’ve forgotten, as well!) I really can’t wait to show you more of the book as we get closer to its publication date. Thanks for your patience on Book #2. I kinda can’t believe it took me 6 years to put out a second book, but I’m so glad that I did!

(This post contains affiliate links.) The crochet classes that I filmed a few months ago are going to start rolling out this year. I filmed for a Creativebug.com series called Critter of the Month! Every month, a knit or crochet designer like Megan Kreiner, Fancy Tiger, myself, (and more!), will teach you how to make a super cute new friend! January is starting up with this adorable knitted polar bear by Megan Kreiner. If you haven’t heard of Creativebug before, it’s an amazing website full of art and craft classes taught by all your favorite instructors, which you can have access to for $4.95 a month. As an added bonus, I’ve discovered that everyone who works there is super nice and fun and creative, so I’m pretty much in love with the whole shebang. I’ll keep you posted on which critter is going up next….!

So I wrote a blog entry on the night of the 30th that I later thought was too much of a bummer. I have my moments when I like to be super honest on my blog, because, we’re all real people going through actual real things, and I think it’s good to talk about that sometimes, too, and not just post crochet things or cute stuff I want to buy. I’d seen something that made me sad, and I just got to thinking about the whole year and the new year and sort of threw it all up over my WordPress. But I didn’t post it. I think maybe I just wrote it for me, and that’s ok, too. 2015 was kind of a weird year. I was single for the first time in a million years. My best friend moved in with me. I wrote a book. I thought about changing careers. Half the time I thought I was really brave in 2015, and half the time I thought I was in hiding. Hiding in my book especially, and making it my #1 excuse to not do anything else. I have to remind myself to be proud of the stuff that I accomplished, and not berate myself for the stuff I feel like I have yet to. I hope that in 2016 I can be brave. That I can be open to new things and be okay with change. Fear is such a weird thing. Okay, this is gonna sound really lame, and I am not an inspo-graphic person, but this quote from “After Earth” always struck a chord with me: I wrote a resume for the first time in 20 years. I sent it somewhere. We’ll see if anything happens. I took some out-of-character leaps to find my lobster (did you ever watch Friends?!), and we’ll see if anything happens there, too. I don’t like making New Years Resolutions, cuz I mostly feel like they can be empty promises and kind of pointless, but I just always hope that I’m doing things that bring me joy and that hopefully also bring joy to the people around me. So let’s do that. P.S. Here’s a silly photo so that this blog entry isn’t too heavy. I found a picture of a poodle and thought: I WANT TO BE THAT POODLE. So I made myself some hair danglies and called it a success. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve already seen it, but if you don’t follow me there, here’s all my poodle glory. Thank you for following me on my adventures. It means a lot to me, and I hope you all are healthy and happy :).