Author: TwinkieChan

Ok, so I watch a lot of TV. A LOT OF TV. I watch it when I crochet at night, for hours on end. I watch a lot of crap TV because I usually don’t want to pay full attention to the screen.  But I think there are sometimes some gems on TV that are worth mentioning. I only really felt compelled to share this anecdote because it came up in a conversation I had with Manda this weekend. These lines are from the most recent episode of Grey’s Anatomy. If you haven’t watched it yet, I’ll try not to spoiler anything important. If you don’t watch the show, I’ll just set it up by saying that Dr. Cristina Yang has befriended and sort of been mentored by Dr. Thomas (aka Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World). Dr. Thomas is super old, and his hospital doesn’t really respect him anymore and is waiting for the chance to give him the boot. But Dr. Yang really likes him and feels he has a lot to teach her still, even though he is all ancient and curmudgeon-y. During a surgery, he has a bunch of super nice stuff to randomly say to her. I’m kind of paraphrasing. If you want to watch the scene, here’s a link, but here are my favorite parts: Dr. Thomas, “You will be the surgeon of your generation. People will try to diminish you, as they did me, and they will fail. Mediocre surgeons will see you and feel themselves wilting in your shadow. Do not shrink to console them.” While he phrases his thoughts in almost a negative way, I felt very uplifted by them! Basically, ignore the haters, and just be awesome. Manda and I were talking about someone she knows, and how he said he was kind of afraid to succeed because his friends might look at him differently or feel bad about themselves or feel jealous or something like that. I told her to tell him to watch this episode of Grey’s and to take Dr. Thomas’ advice. If you have the will and the capacity to be excellent, why would you rob yourself of being excellent? Manda also made a good point. By being excellent, you can uplift and motivate others around you. They can make that choice, in their head, whether seeing your success will inspire their own negativity or positivity. So, like, go be excellent and stuff! No shrinking! Happy Monday!

I wanted to take a photo of a hand holding something for the Yummy You shop, so I figured I better get rid of my chipped crack-ho nail polish and do something cute. They remind me of cupcakes without getting too literal. Here are the polishes I used. Not pictured is the Seche Vite top coat I used to smooth out the glitter and to speed up the drying time since I decided to do this at 5am. When you work with your hands, your nail polish tends to chip off easily, I think. Especially if you do anything glue-related. That glue will pull your mani right off your finger. However, while crocheting, I think having cute nails really enhances the experience! There you are, crocheting a cute thing, seeing your cute mani flash by. I dunno. It’s the dumb little things!

Sometimes, after working on a new pattern/project for 2 days, you are left with a pile of unraveled yarn, and a CIRCLE. Granted, I’ve had other things going on, too, like still trying to get the Yummy You store to work (my buddy Kei has some choice words regarding the Magento platform, but those are not G-rated), and working on getting Yummy You in other stores, but seriously, I did not expect to have a CIRCLE after all this work. I don’t know how other crochet designers do it, but sometimes, I have to take something apart a million times. Some times I try something one day for a few hours, decide it’s not the best, unravel it, start over again. I think I have done that at least ten times with this project. The end result will seem very stream-lined and simple, but you’ll never know how many hours went into deciding on that one specific pattern. Like, I tried using front post stitches for some texture, and it was looking awesome, but later I decided they created too much bulk for this project, so I unraveled that and ixnayed the FPs.  My new website is www.UnRavelry.com, and all we do is post pictures of yarn piles and odd shapes with smiley faces on them! Wish I could tell you more, but this project will be part of something launching in January! As long as I actually finish it in time for my deadline! HAH!

I totally forgot to mention that I posted two crochet paintings from the Macaronimal collection on Etsy! If you want to visit Cinnamon Kitten and Pavlova Panda, click here! 🙂

I have a fun feature in Issue 46 of Let’s Get Crafting, out November 9th in the UK! It looks super colorful and cute from the cover. I need to get my hands on a copy!

I was going to keep it kinda secret, but then I thought it would be funny to share my HORRIBLE sketches/plans for my Renegade Holiday Market SF booth in December. I am not sure yet how everything will shake down, and what all will be included, but, I am definitely going for a theme. Cross your fingers. I am in full-on Renegade mode now. Well, okay, that’s a lie. I’m also working on this other big project that will launch in January. Okay, and also still working on launching the Yummy You store. I guess I’m never really full-on-anything-mode. There’s always a few things bubbling on the burner!

These sweet sparkly gummy bears are looking for a new home with YOU! But I’ve sort of been hemming and hawing over exactly what to do with them, and wondering how people would prefer to wear the the gummy the most. I know that everyone has different preferences, but it would be interesting to see if there were any kind of consensus or majority opinion? I could do: brooches hair clips (but not the combo, because the combo hardware is too big and bulky) or mount 1,2, or 3 bears on a headband. The other thing I thought of was hanging them on a ball-chain necklace. Any thoughts? I personally use hair clips more than pins, but I think they make for awfully cute brooches…. Oh, p.s. they are about 2 inches tall :). Ok now that I am looking at a photo, maybe more like 3 inches tall, with some slight size variance in different colors due to the slight variances in yarn weights.

Here’s the video I made from clips Manda and I took on our iPhones at the pumpkin patch. My original plan was to get this uploaded to promote my Halloween and pumpkin-themed accessories, but you know, life happens, and I didn’t have time to get to it. It’s a little late now to order your Halloween goodies, yet it’s not quite Halloween, but I’m going to be house-sitting for Halloween without access to my good computer, so here’s the video now! PHEW! I am also having weird issues with iMovie not letting me save my file at full quality, so it’s at medium quality : /. I gotta work on my video quality issues, but I have no idea what I am doing. Anyway, I hope you think it’s fun! I thought I was going to put together a 30 second video, but I had so much fun remembering our day at the pumpkin patch, that it turned into a 2 minutes video. I chose “On Top of the World” by Imagine Dragons because I heard it for the first time that day in Manda’s car.  

I did not plan to do anything for Halloween this year, but when I got a Facebook invite last Saturday to check out Bad Dads – an art show tribute to the films of Wes Anderson, which was also a costume party with prizes, I told Hairy we were going to do this, and dress up. He is not big on the dressing up, especially in SHORTS, but, I told him, IT WAS HAPPENING. Oddly enough, he didn’t put up much of a fight, and he actually helped make his own costume, and was also oddly in good spirits while wearing it. Win! (Sorry you can also see my horrible iPhone typing skills.)          

I kind of panicked on this outfit today. I needed to take a photo in my craft room for another craft-room tour feature on a friend’s blog.  But it was one of those days where I threw my hands up in the air over what clothes to put on. You win some, you lose some. You may recognize the top. It’s the same print as my tote bags, which I am still waiting for Hairy to re-print in pink. I tried out this allegedly slouchy shirt, but it was really small on me and already a size large, so I stopped considering selling these until I find shirts that I like and would wear myself. I didn’t even end up keeping this outfit on. At least I liked my hair today! Hehe. Shirt:  by me. Shorts: Drop Dead Clothing. Boots: ModCloth. Head band: by me. I’m starting my planning for Renegade Holiday market. I never know what to bring. People will buy different things all the time at various shows, so it’s hard for me to predict the right inventory. Which means I end up trying to bring everything and stressing out! We’ve also been working on some last minute Halloween costumes. I haven’t had Halloween plans for years. I got a Facebook invite to an art show opening/Halloween party for Friday night, so we started to frantically plan costumes in less than a week. It’s shaping up rather well, I’d say. Although, I don’t think I’ll be able to try the whole thing on until the day of. Fingers crossed! Here’s a hint. It will be very obvious to some people, and completely nonsensical to others! Yep, that’s Hairy in the craft room, getting his craft on. He kept saying he didn’t know what he was doing, and I’m told him to just do it. I’d be a great mom/teacher, right? “Uh, shut up and just DO IT!” And yep, that’s a contract/release thingie that his patch is sitting on. I hope to announce that news soon!

(Hair clips and stripey glove: my Etsy shop, Dress: Katastrophic Design (worn before in my Final Frontier post), Boots: ModCloth, Cardigan: Target) I haven’t been to a pumpkin patch in years. I kept begging Manda to go with me this year and wear our pumpkin/Halloween gear, and Sunday was the day! I’m lucky enough to live nearly next door to this pumpkin patch, and it has tons of pumpkins, a bouncy castle, a bouncy slide, and even a little train that departs every 10 minutes. I thought we would kind of hop in and out of there and then go costume shopping, but we ended up spending over an hour picking our most favorite pumpkins, me trying to talk Manda into buying a giant humongous pumpkin, Manda trying to talk me out of carving and sticking my head in said giant pumpkin like the headless horseman.    (I don’t know much about Manda’s outfit except her hat and mitts are from my Etsy shop, and her jacket is Material Girl.) We got quite the response at the patch and were told we were really prepared! I came home with one small pumpkin and two baby pumpkins, and Manda bougnt like a kabillion pumpkins (but not the one big giant one!). You will see more of our pumpkin shopping in a short video that I will post soon!

This week has been a flurry of top secret Yummy You! activity that I hope to be able reveal soon! In more immediate news, I was really happy to contribute in some small way to the first ever Blogcademy in NYC hosted by Kat from RockNRollBride, Gala Darling, and Nubby Twiglet. It’s happening this weekend, and I totally wish I could be a fly on the wall! I really love how people can come together and make things happen. That’s kind of a lame way to put it, but the making of the things is kind of magical. Each Blogcademy graduate gets a custom coffee cup cozy crocheted by yours truly included in a bag full of other goodies. At first, I thought I might make cupcake coffee cup cozies, but when Kat asked if I could use the Blogcademy colors, I decided to go a different way completely and create a crochet version of their branding. My work is not really known for being classy, clean, or modern, but I think I did okay and added a bit of cozy grandma-ness to the mix!   (Pic ganked from Blogcademy blog.) I drew most of my inspiration from their button design. I picture many bloggers out and about in places with coffee/tea and wifi, so I figured a coffee cup cozy would be the most useful item I could provide. I’m excited to see how Blogcademy grows, and maybe one day they will be headed to a city near you! (For anyone new to my blog, here’s my Q&A at Gala’s blog, and here’s my tutorial at Kat’s blog.)    

Some of you may recall that I used to maintain my side blog I Eat Yucky Stuff. I was never able to keep it up very regularly, but I reeeally neglected it for a long time. It was funny to get rung up at Whole Foods and have the cashier person say, “Hey, don’t you write about eating yucky food?” I never thought I would get recognized for that first before crocheting cute accessories. When I started the blog, I hosted it on Uber.com, which no longer exists. Uber was very nice and often highlighted my sillyness on the homepage.  I was bummed when they folded. Tumblr had just started existing, but I was kind of confounded by it and opted to start Yucky Stuff up on Blogspot. I never really spent the time importing all the old Uber entries, so I’m missing some old gems like that one time we…….. tried eating dog food to compare a high quality kibble to a low quality kibble when we first got Bibi….. we’re the best doggie parents ever! And yes, there was a gigantic flavor difference! Lame kibble tastes bland like crackers. Good kibble tastes REALLY REALLY BAD!!!!! Anyway, my dad turned 60 this month, and he threw a big Chinese banquet to celebrate. He hinted big time that I should blog about it on Yucky Stuff. So I did. This one is definitely NSFV: Not Safe For Vegans/Vegetarians. So don’t even think about it. In other Yucky Stuff news, I was a guest on Hairy’s radio show on Breakthru Radio a little while back. Listen to it and find out which song I request! I haven’t listened to to the show yet because I’m afraid of what I ended up saying….Okay, I’m listening to a little bit right now.  Anyway, “DJ Hanabi” on Breakthru Radio is one name for two people, Hairy and his buddy. If it’s confusing, ask them! Yucky Chan – out!

While designing Halloween-themed items, I sketched out a t-shirt with a plush heart and loopy crocheted “ribs” that would not necessarily be anatomically correct (at all!) but would still evoke both spookiness and cuteness! I wanted to borrow from today’s skeleton trend and make it a little more Twinkie Chan. What I really like about this project is that you can pick your favorite color t-shirt or tank top and wear it year-round. You can even make the heart a removable brooch and give it to somebody at any moment! (Oh hey, Valentine’s Day project!) You can also have lots of fun decorating and customizing your heart, giving it a face, arms, legs, heck, you could even sew clothes for it if you want! The pattern is below! Please note, that I did this really quickly before leaving on a trip to Seattle to see the Plush You opening at Schmancy (today, Friday, 5pm – 9pm!).  I need to shoot better photos, and there are probably some weird mistakes in the pattern itself. Let me know if you attempt it! 🙂

I uploaded some cute Halloween-themed cupcake hair clips to my Etsy shop  and put them in a “Halloween” section along with jackolantern slouchy hats, mitts, and hair clips. I have one more Halloween-themed project I want to complete, but time is tickin’ away, and we’re also going to be out of town this weekend for Plush You in Seattle! It is going to be a free pattern/DIY project  to post here on the blog, so I hope I have time to squeak it in so you guys can make some for yourselves before Halloween! Or for you spookier individuals, it will be something you can wear all year round…! I played with a new lens for my camera today. The light was bad since the sun was going down, but a lot of the product photos came out super crisp anyway. Interesting! I know absolutely nothing about photography and am thinking of taking an online class in November!  

After shooting photos for the soon-to-be Yummy You online store, I wanted to jump in and take a photo with Vivs and Elysse. At first I thought I would also model some of the product, but the idea of trying to take a break from that for once was kind of appealing.  I got to hold a big panel of cardboard and strangle people with scarves instead! We didn’t really have a big enough space for the backdrop indoors, so we went into the backyard. It had been a perfectly overcast day, but of course, as soon as everything was set up, the sun started coming out and burning everyone’s faces off!! Thus, my cardboard-holding duties to shield all from the sun. We were kind of under a tight time-constraint for scheduling and wanted a more straightf0rward and streamlined look for the online store, but I hope to have more fun shoots later at fun locations! Thanks to Oliver for being our trusty photog. I told him to jump in the photo, too, but he refused! What a diva.

On Friday night, I decided to go all out and go crazy on my nails. I have no skills and no tools, so anything I attempt right now will look awful, but I at least like the colors and the randomness. On Instagram, I mentioned that this looks like a preschooler drew on me. I actually started out wanting to do pandas, but I did a practice panda with my toothpick, and it looked really bad/scary, so then, I just defaulted to THIS! This weekend I got to see lots of friends. On Saturday, I had lunch and hung out at the mall with Mars, Josh, Miss P, and Manda.  On Sunday, I got to see Elysse, Vivs, and Oliver for a Yummy You! photoshoot. We’re trying to get the online store up ASAP! Woohoo!

In the late 90s, I noticed some of the SF hipster girls wearing their cowboy boots ironically, and I told myself I would never -EVER- have cowboy boots. Never say never. When I saw these babies with hearts on them on Modcloth, I had some serious “Should I or shouldn’t I?” conversation with myself. It is clear now which side won.   They are by T.U.K. which I usually can’t wear because I’ve always been between the 7 and the 8. But I read on the ModCloth reviews that they ran large, so I ordered the 7 and they fit absolutely perfectly! The heel is a bit clickety-clackety and even my dad commented that my shoes were loud, but aside from that, I kind of love them. Boots: T.U.K. from ModCloth, Dress: a boutique in L.A. on Sawtelle I can’t remember the name of, Shirt: you can’t see but is So So Happy.  

The Plush You! show opens at Schmancy in Seattle on Friday, October 12, and I’ll be there! Hope to see you locals there, too! Schmancy has been posting preview pictures of plush on Instagram, and it looks like it’s going to be an awesome show. I sort of stretched the idea of a “plush toy” into making tissue box cozy buddies! Looks like plush. Gives you kleenex. Win win! I didn’t get a chance to photograph all 3 together. The Milk Carton Buddy was a late-bloomer and was actually completed and shipped a week after his other 2 friends! Cheeseburger Buddy was born first. I have been wanting to make a burger tissue cozy forever! I will probably start to offer these on Etsy in a non-monster style. Here’s his lady-friend, Birthday Cake Buddy! I was excited to make her, because I love the birthday candle so much. Also I was happy to use a pattern from Sugar On Top to create her frosting decorations. I think it looks like a little girl wearing a dress! Milk Carton Buddy was born last. He was fun to make because his tissue comes out the top of his carton, like you’re about to pour out some tissues for yourself. I kind of flip-flopped between this idea and having the tissue come out of his mouth like his friends, but I thought it would be a nice contrast to have something a little different for the show. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a pic of them together when I’m in Seattle!

Stephen Chbosky’s novel “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” first came out in 1999.  I was a year out of college, working at the literary agency as an assistant, trying to work my way up to being a literary agent. I remember hanging out with someone in Berkeley after I had just read the book, and we walked into a bookstore where the book was displayed on the front table. “I’m going to read you the best line in this book,” I said. A teen girl tells a teen boy before she kisses him, “‘I want to make sure that the first person you kiss loves you. Okay?‘” Okay. I know that’s really sappy, but I remember thinking that was like the sweetest most lovely thing I had read in a long time. I remember thinking that this book was such a gem, just little and wonderful. It is written in  a sort of confessional diary style, in the form of letters, by the 15 year old narrator Charlie to a “Friend.” Publishers Weekly gave it a pretty harsh review, calling it “a trite coming-of-age novel,” which I totally get, especially now that I’m older. But you know, whatever. I loved this book in that moment I consumed it, and I’ll remember it for that.   This was also an exciting time for me in publishing, because I was kind of just finding my way in the industry, and publishers were just starting to create imprints specifically marketed toward young adults/the MTV audience, and this was totally my jam. Young agents selling books to young editors to bring cool books to young people. My publishing career didn’t end up being that cool or anything, but there was this potential then in the early years that got me really pumped to be there. Last Saturday night, I had a long overdue girl-date with Manda. We had mexican food and margaritas and went to see this movie together. There’s a certain part of the plot which has always really bothered me since reading the book (for being an easy way out, so to speak), but otherwise, I think the movie does a good job in capturing the spirit of the book, which is logical since the author also wrote the screenplay, produced, and directed the movie. Part of me was like, “Kids are never this sweet to each other!” And another part of me was like, “Stop having crabby old-person thoughts!” So, if you are a crabby old-person, you might want to skip this movie. But if you are young at heart and want to watch something sweet with kind of a dark ripple running through it, you should check it out. As I told Manda before we saw the movie, “It’s a teen movie, but it’s not, like, ‘She’s All That’ or ‘Bring It On.’ It’s serious. But the book was good.”

A little while ago, Kathryn Vercillo of Crochet Concupiscence emailed me about her new book “Crochet Saved My Life: The Mental and Physical Health Benefits of Crochet.” I asked if she would like to offer a free copy to one of my blog readers, and she said yes! To be perfectly honest, I haven’t had time yet to read the whole book, but I have gotten about half way. I didn’t want to wait too much longer to set up this giveaway for you! Kathryn shares her journey of how crocheting helped her overcome life-threatening depression. In reaching out to the crochet community, she also met others who experienced the healing and therapeutic power of yarn and a hook. You will follow Kathryn’s personal story, her scientific research, and the stories of 24 other women from all walks of life. Her writing is thoughtful, never saccharine, and her book is an uplifting and educational thank-you to a craft that most people see as just a hobby. On Amazon.com, the book is available as a paperback as well as a Kindle download. If you are an Amazon Prime member, the book is free in the lending library! Kathryn is kindly offering one of my blog readers a free copy: a paperback version for U.S. readers, and an electronic version for non-U.S. readers. To enter the giveaway, follow the handy Rafflecopter widget! a Rafflecopter giveaway

When Mollie Makes asked if I would send some extra photos of my work for Issue 18 along with a photo of myself for the contributors page, I decided to throw together an impromptu secret garden party in my back yard. It was so secret, that I was the only one there! I also always wanted to see if I could make one of these composite collage thingies. I have no idea how you are supposed to make them. I basically just shot a bunch of photos of myself around the table and then cut/pasted them together. It’s not perfect, and you can see some seams if you look closely, but it was just for fun, and I thought it turned out pretty cool!

A little bit ago I posted a pic of a two-colored cupcake slouchy hat, and I thought I’d share how that came to be. Jess from Cupcakes by Jess in the UK contacted me about making her a custom cupcake hat with colors from her logo and tattoo. She requested a pink and mint frosting with a chocolate cake. I hope Jess loves her new hat! If you’re near Norfolk and have a sweet tooth, please check out her cupcakes! She also wanted me to give a shout out to her tattoo artist Gemma Osborn at Sub Rosa Tattoo Parlor in Norwich. Happy Monday! Can’t to show you the neat tissue box cozies I have been working on for Plush You! in Seattle, October 12!

I got an email from DailyCandy the other day, which I honestly kind of usually ignore and delete, but I’m glad I paid attention this time, because it was all about Sugarfina, a fancy candy shop! There was just something about those dainty little spoons of colorful yummies that compelled me to go completely insane and want to order one of everything! My package arrived today, and I couldn’t wait to open it! Hand-written note! I am always impressed when owners can include a hand-written note in their orders. I feel like I’m usually too much in a rush to make it to the post office to do this, but I think it’s super awesome when others can manage it! If you click around on the site a bit, you’ll see that their goodies come in various sizes, so you can get a little taster cube for about $5, a medium one for about $9, and a large one for about $16. I ordered mostly smalls, and the gummy bears are mediums.  $5 for a gorgeous sample of artisan candy is pretty cool, and you could make a really beautiful present for someone buy getting little taster boxes of your person’s favorite candies. These are for Manda. I already txtd her a photo! Her mom used to call malt balls “health food.” Hairy and I broke into some of the gummy bears. They are REALLY juicy. My favorites so far are the green apple and strawberry. To be completely honest, this is not my full order…… some of the German gummy candies were waitlisted, so the snacking has only just begun!