Author: TwinkieChan

My dad came up to the city over the weekend to have dinner. When we asked what he wanted for dessert, he said: SOUFFLE. Lucky for us, in the time of Google and iPhones, Hairy quickly located a place called Souffles Cafe near North Beach that was open late, so off we went!   Souffles Cafe is uber Chinese, and not French, as some might assume. They have a lot of souffle flavors (I got chocolate, my dad got grand marnier, but almost banana, and Hairy got coffee), and tons of other Hong Kong cafe snacks like egg puffs and sweet soup desserts and “house made snail meats” (okay that’s not really a dessert) and lots of tea.   My dad and I usually always get a hot Hong Kong Milk Tea, and Hairy gets his iced. HK milk tea is a really strong black tea with lots of sweetened condensed milk and probably also sugar to boot. It’s sweet and creamy and keeps me up at night, but I love it! There are many powdered versions as well, and we have tried A LOT of them. My favorite so far is one made by Lipton, but we can only find it in Hong Kong, so we stock up when we are there. The key is finding a powdered milk tea that produces a really creamy/milky beverage. Get with it, U.S.A! I hadn’t really noticed, but Hairy suddenly remarked that Souffles Cafe was especially awesome because the Chinese channel was playing RAMBO. I am pretty sure that the English translation here is, “My souffle is so good, it’s making me have a mental breakdown and kill people….”   Don’t worry. I ate the souffle and stayed sane. The other really cool thing about Souffles Cafe is the bathroom. They are really protective of their bathroom, and I respect that big time. Don’t be disgusting out there, people! The souffles there are pretty big, and I could only finish half of mine. I told Hairy that if I tried to finish it, I would have to start breakin’ all kinds of bathroom rules. I’m fun to eat with!  

Sorry for the blog-silence! I’ve been busy catching up with work, writing Michaels.com patterns, planning cool collabs for Yummy You! (p.s. our Ice Cream & Sunnies tee is now only $12.50!) and working on a few website updates (nothing big, just updating the Press section and the slideshow on the landing page!). I thought I would make it up to you guys by posting another free pattern here! It’s for the little Goldfish Crackers! You can use them as pins, hair clips, and someone mentioned wanting the pattern to make a mobile for her baby. Cute idea! I do not intend to sell anymore in my shop, so that is why I am sharing the pattern for free here.

My free crochet pattern for September is up at Michaels.com! Happy Saturday! I’m re-posting this pattern here on my blog, since Michaels.com re-vamped its entire site and scrubbed out a lot of patterns. It’s a Marigold Triangle Shawl! With Autumn just around the corner, I wanted to make something cozy and cheerful, and I couldn’t take my mind off granny-square afghans! I thought we could also celebrate the colors of the season with bright marigold blossoms, which I especially love because they are edible! Loops & Threads T-shirt yarn is a fun material for making pom-poms, since you get variegated colors in one ball with a cute, chunky look, and Candy Corn is absolutely perfect for our marigolds. So let’s get comfy with a classic granny-triangle shawl accented with fun pops of color! Kitsch-factor on maximum! The neat thing about this pattern is that once you get the hang of it, you can just keep going forever and ever and make the shawl as big or small as you like. My marigolds (which are edible flowers!) are made with Loops & Threads’ new tshirt yarn, which makes for nice and squishy pompoms. I hope you guys have fun cuddling and twirling with your new triangle shawls!

The freeform crochet work of Svyazka on Etsy. This Mushroom Clearing pillow is SO CUTE. I want one! Neon Pink Members Only Jackets! via AgentLover. She wrote about how her dad wore Members Only while she grew up, and mine did, too! Actually, I broke down and bought one! I think I’m gonna stick my Gary Basemen ice cream patch on it! Cool Comic Backpack from F21. Delicious Mint Platform Creepers from Moooh. A Unicorn Farted in My Nail Polish at Llarowe.com. I totally bought this, but I haven’t tried it yet. I know it’s spendy at $11, but, I dunno, THE NAME. Tony Moly Petite Bunny Lip Gloss Bars on eBay. I know these have been around for a while, but I never really looked them up. How cute are those faces? I ordered Juicy Grape and Juicy Strawberry!

  Congrats to Clare for her winning entry! Thanks so much to everyone for entering my giveaway! I really appreciate the support, and I had a fun time reading all your favorite summer moments :). I don’t often get to hear from everyone, so it was a nice opportunity! I’ll try to remember to do more giveaways in the future! They’re fun! p.s. Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been a bit sick the past few days! When I feel better, I’ll be posting a new free pattern on the blog :).

Remember when I made this grumpy octopus coffee cup cozy back in December? I finally made another one so that I could write down the pattern for you!

I’m really excited to let you guys know about another book I’ll have crochet patterns in: The Wizard of Oz Crochet Kit! It is now available for pre-order, and the official pub date is November 12th. This year is the 75th Anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, and I believe there will be a one-week run of the movie in theaters…. in 3D!? The author, Kristen from Schmancy in Seattle, asked if I would contribute a pattern to a super secret project earlier in the year. It had a super-fast turnaround, but I said yes! As it turned out, I contributed two projects! (None of which appear on the book cover, so it’s still a surprise.) Her publisher took care of the photography, so I have no idea what the inside will look like at all, so it will be an extra neat treat! Schmancy will be hosting a Wizard of Oz art show/book release party on November 15th, from 5:00pm-8:oopm. I’m gonna try to be there!

Wow, we haven’t had a giveaway here for a long time!!! I need to remember to do these things more often! Prizes are: 1 Ice Cream & Sunnies T-shirt by Yummy You!, 1 Ice Cream Scoop Hair Clip by me in a flavor of your choice, 1 Cotton Candy Pen Cozy by me in a flavor of your choice, and 1 Strawberry Neopolitan Girl Print (5 x 7) by my talented buddy Tiffany Star! Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to find multiple ways to enter! Our contest ends next Wednesday! a Rafflecopter giveaway

  When I buy handmade things, I rarely remember to write a special note to the people who made them, so I’m always super surprised when I receive such a note! I made this custom cupcake slouchy hat last week, and I loved the colors that my customer chose. I probably would not have thought of such a color combo, but it turned out really cute and Easter-y! Thanks again, everyone, for reading my blog, answering my questions on Facebook, and listening to me rant on Twitter. I really appreciate it! Running my businesses is not always easy. It’s fun, for sure, but not easy. So thanks for always being so loving and encouraging! Happy Monday! I pinky-promise to post a free pattern on my blog this week! 😉

Earlier in the week, my buddy Elysse took me to a bagel and pretzel-making class!!! It was kind of amazing. We got to take home the dough we made and have our way with it. I can’t say that mine turned out as beautiful as the ones in class, but, you know me, I’m a disaster in the kitchen! The up side and the down side of making bagels, is that there is some time to kill while waiting for dough to rest at various stages, so I made bagels while writing a crochet pattern. (I will have created 3 new items/patterns in 7 days! Eep! You will see them eventually!) I don’t feel right about posting our teacher’s recipe on my blog, so here is one from A Beautiful Mess to get you started. Some of our ingredients are different, and some of the resting times and the oven temperature are different, but I’m sure there are a million ways to make bagels, and you will find your own bagel-groove as well. My bagel-groove involved setting off the smoke alarm at 5 in the morning. (Too steamy during the bagel-boiling!) My bagel-groove will probably also never involve a digital kitchen scale, and our teacher was pretty insistent about those, but I’m guessing I’ll still get along okay. Have you ever tried to make your own bagels before? It’s actually not too overwhelming! I wonder what will happen when I try to add crazy stuff in them like chocolate chips or CHEESE!    

Have you guys heard of Knitsy? It’s a digital magazine out of the UK “for yarn tarts.” That’s us! Knitsy is designed for the iPad and iPhone and contains lots of fibertastic interviews and patterns for crocheters and knitters. It is really fun to swipe through!   Best of all? The issues are free! Go get inspired!

How many of you guys have an iPad? Do you use a lot of apps that are for iPad only? I don’t have an iPad, so the whole idea of iPad-only apps is a bit weird to me still, but the guys at Hop.in let me borrow one (so nice!) to explore their app. I would love it if you guys would explore it with me! Hop.in makes collecting cool stuff on the internet easy, with just a double-tap on some text, an image, or video that you want to remember for later. You can either do all your collecting privately, or you can do it publicly and share your feed. You can organize your goodies with hashtags so you can easily find all your #craft or #recipe collections. It’s also super easy to share your notes to Twitter or Evernote or whatever you like. Check out this video here! If you end up checking Hop.in and have any feedback about it, let me know! Let’s find each other and follow each other!

Oh my jeez! H0ld onto your butts! Sourpuss Clothing asked if Ahoy Miss and I would want to shoot photos together in their Shake & Shimmy Dresses in Pink and in Aqua. I was like, “We are buddies, but we still kinda live a couple hundred miles away from each other…!” and Sourpuss was like, “It’s the perfect excuse to get together!” OKAY YOU ARE RIGHT SOURPUSS CLOTHING! SO VERY RIGHT!  I was very lucky that she came for visits during Renegade Craft Fair a few weeks ago so we could make this happen! Hairy watched my booth while Danielle and I ran around outside Fort Mason. I am used to shooting photos of myself, by myself, with a remote clicker thingie, and I totally freeze up and get weird when someone else is pointing a camera at me. Danielle’s hubby Jose took all the photos, and he is super duper nice. He said something like, “Just let your individual personalities come through!” So I did this … I emailed Danielle that she was the lady and I was the spazz. Lady and The Spazz. That’s the name of our love story. I have to add that my dress was extremely comfy, flowy, and lightweight. Also I had the dresses crumpled up in a bag at the craft fair, and they didn’t really wrinkle, so they would be really perfect for traveling! My pink version has little black bows, adjustable spaghetti straps, and smocking in the waist for fit and comfort! Her aqua version has a cute peter pan collar, tiny pink buttons down the front,  some super cute pink ric-rac-kinda trim, and also that comfy smocking. If you haven’t had enough of us yet, you MUST watch this amazingly funny video that Danielle made! DO IT!!! IT’S AWESOME!! I’m allowed to say that with gusto because I didn’t make it. DO IT!!!!! Also wearing: my trusty necklace by AthinaLabella, my trusty T.U.K. boots from ModCloth, and a pepperoni pizza hair clip by me! (I might add that I may have chosen alternative footwear on any other day, but since I was vending and standing all day at a craft fair and having to take down my booth at the end of the day, comfort was KEY!) We also decided to copy TinyTangerines and pick some other stuff we liked from the Sourpuss website! 1. SOURPUSS PINEAPPLES DOLL BABY DRESS 2. PINKY PINUPS SLEEVELESS STRIPED A LINE DRESS  3. SOURPUSS VARSITY SKULL CARDIGAN PINK 4. PINUP COUTURE LIME WICKER BAGUETTE PURSE 5. COLLECTIF ANNIE BUNNY PINK SWEATER  6. SOURPUSS LIL LAMB BOWLER PURSE 7. T.U.K. PINK BROGUE BOOTS 8. SHARK ATTACK PLATFORM HEELS Sourpuss has also given our readers a 15% off discount code! The code is UNICORN (all caps) and is active until October 14th! (Just FYI, we do not make a commission off this code. It’s just for you guys to enjoy!) Check out Ahoy Miss for her photos and details!

I sold out of the initial run of corn dogs from Renegade Craft Fair, but now I’ve made them available for custom ordering on Etsy, which means, you get to choose between mustard or ketchup, bite, or no bite! If y’all think of other customizations you might want, just lemme know! I’m thinking of also turning him into an actual puppy dog or puppy corndog character with ears and a face! Also, I thought it would be cool to get a behind-the-scenes look at the stop-motion corn dog video that my buddy Justin made. Checkitout!  

Check out the new pattern I just posted in my Etsy shop! Gummy Shark Scarf! I had intended to post this up a few days earlier, during Shark Week, but I just started writing it and crocheting it on Monday night, and it took me longer than I thought it would to complete! Ah well! Now we’ll be extra prepared for next year! I hope to also eventually write the pattern for a gummy candy scarf, so this is a nice start! p.s. Sorry I didn’t feel like brushing my hair or putting on a cute outfit for this one……. it happens. How would you style your Gummy Shark scarf?

When I saw this adorable dress by Freckles & Ginger, I had to have it! Not only is her work super cute and classy, but she also donates all proceeds to animal rescues. I gave her my measurements, and with some Freckles & Ginger magic, the dress fit like a glove. I will definitely be buying more from this lovely lady! I bought this apple belt from some random thift/vintage shop on Melrose, and it kind of went perfectly with the dress! I also knew immediately that I had to crochet a Very Hungry Caterpillar head piece to go with this outfit. Here is the pattern that I created, so you can make one, too! Please note that this pattern is for personal use only, and that the Very Hungry Caterpillar is copyright/trademarked by Eric Carle, the author and illustrator.

I turned 37 today! Dang, right? Dang! Kat from RockNRollBride  and Sophie fromCrown and Glory sent me the most amazing head band from their new collection . Primarily designed for alternative brides who crave a little oomph, color, and sparkle in their head wear, these crowns, head bands, and bows are pretty terrific just for everyday, don’tcha think? I’m wearing the Liberace in the bunny ears style! I’m also pretty in love with the Rachel, with all those sweet, tiny, bright flowers. Obviously, my first instinct was to pair my Liberaces with a party frock, and I will probably do that later, but in the moment, in my comfy pink confetti sweater that was $10 on sale from H&M, Pajama Glam feels just about right! Also my hair was not behaving at all today, and sometimes it just wants to do its own thing. Kind of the perfect time to rock something sparkly! Don’t forget to check out the entire collection here!

Hey hey hey!!! Here’s August’s free crochet pattern from Michaels.com!  For this month, I was asked to think of fun dorm-room or back-to-school projects. When I think of college and dorms, I definitely think of PIZZA. Obviously, you don’t have to be in college or live in a dorm room to to add some PIZZA-ZZ to your decor, so this is also for all of us pizza-lovers who are down to throw a pizza & pj’s slumber ANY time and ANYwhere! Click here for the pattern! Edit, June 4, 2014: Please find the pattern here on my blog. Michaels.com is currently re-vamping their pattern/project section, and the above Michaels.com link is disabled for now.  

Here’s the second installment of our cute t-shirt DIY by SZMOON.net using our Yummy You! – Ice Cream & Sunnies Tshirt! This one is no-sew! It’s like business in the front and party in the back! Don’t forget we’re also running a Facebook contest with a chance to win a shirt! Go to the Yummy You page to see the rules!

  Yes, yes, yes, it’s THAT TIME!!! LEFTOVERS SALE!!! Plus all new items I debuted at Renegade that have never been in my shop before! If you’re new around here, what I usually do after craft shows is put the leftover inventory on Etsy at the same sale-prices that I use at shows, for one week, so that people who are not able to make it to the shows can still benefit from a short sale. Discounts range from a few bucks off smaller items to 50% off scarves. Leftover sales last for one week, so you have until next Friday, August 9th, until prices go back to normal. I added a BUNCH of stuff. Check it out!

Cat from one of my favorite craft sites,  Cut Out + Keep, asked me some questions about my craft room and how I organize stuff. Check out more photos and our Q&A here!

Have I got a treat for you! Our buddy Selina from SZMOON.net has whipped up some majorly awesome DIY’s with Yummy You’s Ice Cream & Sunnies Tshirt! Here’s the first one!!! So cute, right!?

Wow, what a weekend! We vended at Renegade Craft Fair in Fort Mason on Saturday and Sunday, and it was quite the whirlwind! A lot of people were really complimentary about the booth and the stuff in the booth, and that was super nice. On the first day, Tiffany Star helped me out in the booth, and it’s always fun to have girlfriend time while you’re working a show. I kept forgetting to force her to take a picture with me, though. DOH. Luckily I found one on Instagram. HAHHA. (Instagram photos are at the bottom of this entry.) In case you hadn’t been following along, I was going for a Carnival theme for my booth, and I tried to incorporate some new products to match that theme, like corn dog pen cozies, cotton candy pen cozies, soft pretzel brooches, and snow cone hair clips. I get really worked up and sleep-deprived over each craft fair, and sometimes I wonder if they are bad for my health! But this fair also reminded me of all the new and old friends I get to see, and that’s really what makes the whole thing so fun.   Here’s a blurry pic I stole from Mali who has been visiting my booth for years! Here’s a collage of photos from Instagram. Top left: me and Susan from ModCloth.  Isn’t she the cutest pixie ever? Top right: stole this pic from Zambi. I told her to take a pic WITH me, but I was denied! :P.  Middle left: There’s me and Tiffany. I think what’s happening here is, whenever people asked, “Is it ok if I take a picture?” I never knew if they meant the booth, or also me/us in the booth, so usually, I wouldn’t look at the camera or try to look a certain way, in case they were just taking a picture of a pizza hair clip or something. Then, you get pics like this where we are kinda like MEEHHHHHRRRRRRRR….   Middle right: There’s the adorable Ahoy Miss in the Ice Cream Scoop scarf I just designed! The last two pics are me and Danielle/Ahoy Miss being goofy.  Do you like our dresses? They are by Sourpuss, and you’ll be seeing a lot more of them soon…. I was going to post a video, too, but I didn’t get very good video of my booth, and I didn’t really record anything overly interesting. There’s just this one clip of when we threw Danielle and Jose in the back of our Uhaul van…. And for those of you familiar with how I do: I will be posting a Leftovers Sale on Etshy with craft-fair-pricing on some items as soon as I can. The sale usually lasts a week. I’ll try to take photos and get them up by the end of this week, but I also have a new Michaels.com pattern to bang out as well!  

So, I am kind of realizing I don’t have THAT much STUFF for my tables at Renegade. I went over to my parents’ house tonight, so my mom could help me sew clothing labels onto things, and the number of scarves I have is… paltry. Well, okay, I have a lot of non-scarf items, just not a lot of scarf items…. Soooooo I started making a pickle scarf!! We’ll see if I have time to finish it. Anyhoo, here are some sneaks that I’ve been posting on Instagram! Also, don’t forget to check out this super-cute stop-motion animation featuring one of my new crocheted corn dogs!