Author: TwinkieChan

I’m super sorry I don’t have time this year to create a new pattern for Easter, but don’t forget that I have two patterns from years past that you might enjoy! Mini Chocolate Easter Bunny (with video) … and my cute collab with Normalynn of Crochet Cake Sachets: Panorama Easter Eggs! Oh! I almost forgot about my Jelly Bean Scarf!  

A few years ago, a fellow crocheter messaged me on Facebook to give me a heads-up on a legal crochet-related matter that she thought I might want to know about. Since then, we have volleyed some messages back and forth, and she asked if she could send me a surprise. Her website is Missy-ville Custo Cro-Ami Designs, and her work is pretty amazing! The package Missy sent me contained what appeared to be two big books. Already cute, right? And when you open them up… … there are dolls inside!! Both Rainbow Brite and Strawberry Shortcake are extremely detailed, and you can really tell how much work and thought and love went into each one. If you are interested in her work, check out what is available in her shop or request a custom project! Thank you, Missy! <3

It’s the 16th 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:

A few months ago, Jumana Barbarea, a fashion designer in Saudi Arabia, contacted me on Etsy about incorporating some of my crochet items into her photoshoot for her children’s clothing line. She just sent me some photos, and look how much fun they are! I hope you guys have a great weekend!!!! So far this month has been a major test in working crazy hard and making time to see friends and be a human and not just a work-machine. I’m not sure I can keep up, but I’ll certainly try. I have a lot of fun news/projects coming up, so stay tuned!

My friend Kristen from Schmancy has a new crochet book and kit out! Peanuts Crochet (affiliate link)! She asked if I wanted to throw my crochet hat in, and I said sure! You’ll find patterns by me in the book for Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, Sally Brown, and my most favorite of all: WOODSTOCK! I took some “behind the scenes” photos while making these guys, but this was in 2014, and I have no idea where those are now…! Sorry! We worked on Charlie Brown first to get the pattern just right, and there was a lot of back and forth with the Peanuts people to make sure they liked the proportions and the facial features (I kept wanting to make his eyes bigger and closer together…! Doh!). Then we based the rest of the characters on the basic Charlie Brown pattern (but not Snoopy or Woodstock of course!). I hope that old school Peanuts fans get a kick out of this book! Do you have a favorite Charlie Brown movie? Mine is the camping one, “Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown!”  

Mel Stringer is a super amazing artist, and I kind of just want to BE every girl that she draws. She kindly sent me a pair of her Pinky Sulky Star Gazer earrings! I for serious have not worn earrings in 8 million years, and I was like, “MelMel, I don’t even know if I have ear holes anymore!!!” BUT I DO. Mel also has a zine called Girl Glue in which she gathers inspiration and art from girl artists around the world. Girl Glue 2 is out now and available in her shop, and yours truly is in there, too! The gorgeous cover art is by Wishcandy, and here is a list of all the artists inside:  (from A-Z) Amanda Whitelaw, Cat Rabbit, Chelsey Barnes, Danielle Thompson, Elena Peralimonera, Gemma Correll, Glucose Girl, Hannakin, Heidi Kenney, Hellen Jo, Kirbee Lawler, Lilly Piri, Mab Graves, Maddy Young, Manjit Thapp, Marmushka, Mel Stringer, Natali Koromoto Martinez, Natalie Perkins, Ouvra, Rebecca Marian Irene, Rudy Fig, Sarah “Catface” MG, Team Kitten, Twinkie Chan, Valerie Brown, Wishcandy. Hope you guys have a great weekend! I’m going to a Galentine’s Day party at Elysse‘s house, and then I’m powering through more work on my second crochet book, which I’ll blog about soon :). (If you guys have any fun suggestions for something vegan I can bake or cook and the turn into a heart shape, let me know!)  

All the fave crochet apparel designs nominated by the judges and YOU are now available for voting!! Click here to check out all the noms and cast your votes!

I totes forgot to show you guys the sleeping masks I made for my mom’s birthday! Strawberry cake and a hot dog! These are just inspiration photos for you guys, and I don’t really plan to write out the patterns for them. Don’t forget, though, that the basic sleeping mask pattern and how-to video are right here! Oh yeah, here’s a picture from my Instagram when I announced that I had achieved WeinerVision.

When my friend Onch told me he was sending me a surprise package… I had no idea it would contain PANDAS!!! OMG PANNNNNDASSS!!!! These little guys are so cute! You can get them in a bunch of 3 like mine or in a bunch of 5! See more at Onch’s website!

My amazing and cute friends Cat & Tom from the popular craft site Cut Out + Keep have just published their first book! It’s called Cut Out + Keep: Around the USA in 50 Craft Projects, and it follows them on their actual road trip around the U.S. with a craft project or recipe inspired by the history and culture of each state! And yes, I did get the honor of hanging out with them while they cruised through California! It is out now in the UK, and will be out here in the U.S. on March 17! I just pre-ordered my copy! (The snaps below are from Amazon…!) One of the things I’ve always loved about Cut Out + Keep (besides how nice Cat & Tom are!) is that the projects always feel very accessible, encompassing a huge range of crafts — from sewing to knitting to crocheting to jewelry-making to cooking to hair dye-ing to pretty much anything under the DIY umbrella — and also fun ideas that all crafters of all skill-levels can handle. Just for kicks, here are some old photos of me, Cat, and Tom from 2011 in London when they visited my book signing/crochet party!

I know you guys wanted me to let you know when you would be able to nominate some of your favorite crochet apparel designs for the first quarter 2015 Crochet Awards. Click here to send in your top picks! If you wanted to check out who the judges nominated, go here!!  There’s a full list with links and larger photos on the Crochet Awards website. Voting on everything will begin on Feb 23rd!

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:

Let’s squeeze out one more heart-shaped pattern before Valentine’s Day! I got a couple requests for a Ricardio the Heart Guy from Adventure time. I had to look him up, and he looks like this: Kinda freaky, right?! Anyway, I figured this was also a good opportunity to make heart-shaped throw pillows, and then you can put a Ricardio face on it, or a happy/cute face, or make a set of conversation hearts with your own messages. Lots of opportunities here!! I will put arms and legs on mine, but you can leave out the limbs. The world is yours! There are a few ways to create a throw-pillow-type project. You can either work in the round, or you can crochet two flat pieces and sew them together. We are going to work this one in the round, kinda like a jumbo version of my heart lollipop necklace. I normally like to use single crochet for items that are stuffed, but I wanted to bang this out really quick, so I used double crochet! Let’s go crazy!!! (p.s. I’m sorry that the photos here are just screen grabs of the YouTube video….. I changed the way I decided to work the pattern, and all the photos I took were no longer valid. I will work up another pillow this weekend and shoot proper progress photos!)

I totally forgot to blog these nail photos from a week or two ago! I bought a set of nail stickers from Pygmy Hippo Shoppe a few months ago, and finally tried them out! (Sorry, it looks like these are no longer available… but there are still tons of cute things in the store!) The set came with a bunch of things like these pretzels, kitties, and french fries, but also pizzas, pugs, and some other things I can’t remember because the sheet is in another room right now! This is the 2nd set of nail stickers I’ve tried, and they are thinner and lay much flatter against my nail. Some other stickers are thicker and end up leaving a ridge around the image, even with a good coat of Seche Vite on top. So while thinner stickers are a bit trickier to place on the nail correctly… they definitely have a better finish!

I gotta show you guys this baby sloth pen cozy I made for my buddy Elysse! I just gave it to her today, so now you can see it, too! I used a pet slicker brush to get him nice and fuzzy. At first I thought his head turned out too small, but in photos, he’s still pretty cute! I was going to give you guys a tutorial for a heart-shaped pillow before Valentine’s Day, but would you rather have a baby sloth first? I think he would make a good VDay present, too 😛

First up, check out this panel of awesome ladies I get to join as a judge for The Crochet Awards! To be perfectly honest, and I get asked about this sometimes in interviews, I am kind of clueless about a lot of other crochet designers. Like, I have not been super active on Ravelry, and I have not really become internet-buddies with a  lot of other crochet designers, so this is such a neat and unique opportunity for me to get more in touch with the crochet world at large, and I’m so thankful to Salena from Design Wars for inviting me! As soon as I think of the word “judge,” I automatically think of Judge Dredd… which I know is weird… cuz I’m not the law in this case… and I don’t get to beat anyone up or arrest them or wear a cool helmet. (I know… crochet one…and don’t beat anyone up.) As I mentioned before, the awards are now occurring quarterly, with the first quarter being all about APPAREL. Here are the categories of crochet patterns for which we got to nominate our favorites: Best Coat/Jacket Best Dress Best Shrug/Bolero Best Skirt Best Beachwear (Swimwear, Coverups) Best Vest Best Shorts/Pants Best Sweater (Cardigan or Pullover) Best Tank/Sleeveless Tunic Top Best Shawl/Wrap Best Cowl/Snood Best Scarf Best Poncho/Capelet You guys, it was really hard!!! I would nominate a shrug and wonder if it was more of a mini sweater. I would nominate a bottom beach coverup and wonder if it was more of a pair of shorts. One of the things we noticed though was that swimwear or beachwear was kind of a seemingly avoided category in crochet patterns, so, WATCH OUT WORLD. I’m bringing you cupcake bikini tops galore for SS 2015!!! 😉 But anyway, YOU guys will still have an opportunity to nominate some wildcards, so start sorting through your favorite crochet apparel patterns from 2014. Stay tuned for more info on that!

We’re having a sale over at Yummy You! Use code SWEETTREAT at checkout for 20% off your order until Wednesday night at midnight! xo

Fun news!!! I’ve been asked to be a judge for the 2015 Crochet Awards, formerly known as The Flamies!! How cool is that!? Created by Founder and Fearless Leader of the Crochet Liberation Front, Laurie Wheeler, the Crochet Awards are a celebration of the best of what the crochet universe has to offer. These coveted awards are a collective voice to show appreciation to the makers, designers, publishers, and suppliers of crochet tools and yarn.  They are voted on by the passionate crochet community to show their pride and celebrate excellence. And new for 2015: the Crochet Awards will now occur quarterly, in order to really focus on all the amazing contributions to the crochet community! This quarter, we will be focusing on Crochet Patterns in Apparel! To follow along and stay on top of all the Crochet Awards news, hit up their Facebook page! I gotta go now and keep working on my nomination list :). Stay tuned…. I think you guys will also be getting an opportunity to do some nominating, too!

Right before Christmas, I ordered some beautiful handmade ornaments from Jenny & Aaron at Everyday is a Holiday. I knew I wouldn’t get them in time for Christmas since I ordered them so late, but I wasn’t worried about it. I actually didn’t end up putting up my tree or decorating at all. Long story short, I went through big break-up and was hyper-focused on crocheting holiday orders, so I didn’t at all prioritize hanging ornaments or putting out knick knacks. But my cute little package arrived a little bit ago, and I am going to be so ready to pimp out my place with holiday cheer for 2015! I have a pink tree with lots of sweets and cupcake-themed ornaments, and I also wanted to only ever purchase vintage or handmade decorations for my tree, so these yummies will fit right in! Each ornament came beautifully packed in a clear sleeve along with some pink paper crinkles and gold star confetti! So cute! I got 3 soft serve ice cream cones, 2 donuts, and a stack of pancakes. While I was ordering, I was like, I think I’m going overboard, but I’ve followed Jenny and Aaron for a long time, and I love supporting artists when I can! Definitely check out the Everyday is a Holiday store, not only for ornaments, but also beautiful wood die cuts for your home, signs and plaques, stickers and art kits, and more! Jenny also maintains a blog which you should follow because she always posts a ton of eye candy. The only blog giveaway I’ve ever won was from their blog, and although I don’t think they host giveaways like that anymore, it’s still a great place to hang out for inspiration!

You’re invited to host a Big Comic Relief Crafternoon: a crafty get-together for you and your friends, family or as many makers as you can cram into the kitchen/diner to raise funds for Comic Relief and Red Nose Day (March 13). For this very purpose, there is a special edition of Mollie Makes magazine called “The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon,” sponsored by Create & Craft, and contains 50 projects inside that can be worn to raise awareness or sold to raise money for Comic Relief. “The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon” is the brainchild of jewellery designer Emma Mitchell (@silverpebble on Twitter) who approached Jane Toft (@JaneToft on Twitter), former editor of Mollie Makes, to help her make it happen! They are joint editors, and Jane also did the design and production of the mag. They both gave their time for free to raise as much money as possible for this brilliant charity. It is on sale in Sainsbury’s (in the UK) and iTunes/Google Play RIGHT NOW as of Thursday 29th Jan. Each issue is £7.99 and 5 whole quid of this goes to Comic Relief to support their wonderful projects in the UK and Africa. There are OODLES of exclusive new tutorials inside from crafters such as Deadly Knitshade, Tif Fussell, Attic24, Jodie Carleton, Lynda Lewis from the Great British Sewing Bee, Mr X Stitch, PLUS favourite Mollie Makes designs from the likes of Gretel Parker, Marna Lunt, Messyla and Zoe Larkins. My crochet patterns for my toast scarf and bacon & egg mitts are also in there! As the theme this year is “Make Your Face Funny for Money,” they’ve included stupendous patterns and tutorials including knitted beards, crochet red noses, and a Liberty print moustache. There’s also a guide to running your own craft fair, so readers can make an entire troupe of felt guinea pigs/nursery full of Spring posy brooches/forest of moustaches and sell them to make more crafty cash for Comic Relief. To connect with The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon and get more info, check out The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon Facebook page and also their Twitter account @CRCrafts. So grab your hooks, pull out the fabrics and have a wonderful Red Nose Day #crafternoon!  

I still need to copy all of my Michaels.com patterns back over to my blog here, so bear with me! Someone recently requested the Chocolate Truffle Scarf, so here it is! I will try to update all the old links, too! Eat your chocolate and wear it, too! I designed this scarf of candy truffles so that you could feel like a walking box of chocolates — cute and scrumptious! Mix and match yarn colors to create your favorite truffle flavors, then decorate with dots, hearts, swirls, or stripes. Guaranteed to satisfy any sweet tooth, this scarf makes an enjoyable and decadent treat!

I randomly decided the other day that I needed to make myself Holly Golightly’s sleeping mask from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and I figured I’d share the pattern so that you guys can make one, too! The cool thing about this pattern is that you can turn the basic sleeping mask into anything you want…. like a bunny mask, a kitty mask, a teddy bear mask… there are tons of possibilities for customization! I made 4 other kinds of masks, which you can see in the intro of my YouTube tutorial! I have no idea how many people actually use sleeping masks on the daily, but while I was crocheting one at my parents’ house, my mom revealed that she uses them! Who knew!? Also, I was making a pink mask, and she asked what it was going to be, and I told her a bunny mask…but actually it was this eye-ball-falling-out-of-the-socket mask. Sometimes, you have to tell a white lie so that you don’t sound crazypants around your folks. This pattern will focus on the Holly Golightly mask, for whenever you have the blues or the mean reds!

Have you guys ever checked out Happily Hooked Magazine? It’s an e-magazine for crocheters filled with interviews, articles, and PATTERNS! This issue has an amigurumi focus, and there’s a little chat in there with me AS WELL AS the pattern for my camel cookie pin. In a month or so, I will probably release the patterns for the camel, rhino, lion, and elephant on Etsy, but if you are itching for the camel right now, you can get it ASAP for just 99 cents when you sign up for a subscription.  

Some time before the holidays, I spied this supercool t-shirt by Maiden Voyage on Agent Lover‘s blog. IT GLOWS IN THE DARK (sorta?… I haven’t really tried ‘charging it up’ yet). I wore it to a farewell dinner for my pal Guapo and posted a pic on Insta, and y’all seemed to like it – and cryptozoology – a real whole bunch, including my friend-of-friend (Is it easier to just say “friend”? When does one become a “friend” as opposed to “the dude I met once who is friends with my friend”? Discussion continued later) Luke, who ended up getting this shirt as well, which, obviously called for TWINSIE OUTFIT PHOTOSHOP THINGZ. (p.s. If you want to check out his band Awesomer, that might be nice, cuz Photoshop humiliation … I mean, SPLENDOR.) There was a brief discussion about pith helmets that will make no sense now, but, let’s just say, that if you were to have an actual pith helmet, everyday would be an adventure. #pithlife For hunting the Bigfoot, I figured a shorts-and-tights combo would provide flexibility, agility, stamina….. okay, I don’t know. I don’t think I can carry this Bigfoot-hunting thing that far right now. I happened to get these tights around the same time and wondered what everything would look like together. Kinda weird, but there’s also sort of an adventure theme with the squids and the pirate ships and everything. It’s just… a different adventure than the Bigfoot one. I cover land and sea in this outfit. It’s the surf-and-turf of outfits. I’m going to end on that high note. Thank you. **** Shirt: Maiden Voyage. Shorts: ModCloth. Tights: TejaJamilla, Boots: Steve Madden (I’m trying to find a cute replacement for my F21 buckle booties that are falling apart…but I have yet to find The One.)