Author: TwinkieChan

Okay. I am officially super behind on blogging. I have yet to blog about my Seattle and Portland trips. I have yet to blog about Xmas. And I need to blog about our New Years Disneyland trip! But first! Here’s a taste of the trip we just came back from. At first it was iffy on whether or not we were really going to go, but it turned out to be great, except for the closed roads and 12 hour drive home. More on that later… Here’s some puri!!!!! Hairy is a good sport. This is probably the least dude-ly thing a dude could ever do. We also really suck at using these machines. We are not good at posing quickly, and we have no idea what we are doing with the decorating pen! Enjoy!

After every holiday, my mom usually sends us home with most of the leftovers, because we’re the only ones who will eat them! Hairy already made a delicious turkey noodle soup a few dasy ago, and tonight he chucked the rest of the leftovers into this pie crust. And it was T-riffic!

So last Thursday, Hairy and Manda and went to our favorite divebar 80s night since Manda is on vacay from school. The three of us were just sittin’ around, people-watching (nerds had invaded the bar that night…it was fascinating), when I suggested we take photos a la The Hangover. Nobody was pulling out their teeth on a dare or marrying strippers or stealing Mike Tyson’s pet tiger … but we tried our best. Our ridiculous attempts at goofy self portraiture led a petroleum engineer to sit next to Manda and ask if she came here often….

…..and kinda forgot to announce it in my blog! I announced in on FB and Twitter and my mailing list. And then I passed the eff out from shooting and editing photos and listing items until 10:30am with no sleep! So a lot of stuff is gone already: cupcake coffee cup cozies, a lot of the ice cream scoop barrettes. But there’s still some stuff there! CLICK FOR ETSY. My favorite item of the update, which is already sold, is the BURGER MITTS!!!!!!! There will be more in the future. Don’t you worry.

On Xmas Eve, my local NBC News station aired a little segment about me and my work! It was pretty cool to watch it with my parents and my bestie! Manda took a video on her iPhone of all of us watching it for the first time. I hope she posts that so I can show you. You get to hear me shout about stuff like how crooked my teeth are on a giant flat screen HDTV! I was really excited to be contacted by a local producer, who at first just asked if I had scarves to sell her! Next thing I knew, I was furiously hanging prints in my house and trying to make the place look okay for her and the camera man/interviewer to film me in my environment! They were here for about 2 hours, and Manda helped dog-sit! This is pretty much the first time someone else has filmed me talking and is the first time I’ve seen myself on TV. I have avoided being on TV before because I was too scared…I coulda been on DIY Network a few years back! Yes, I’m a total girl and totally mortified and completely focusing on all my physical flaws and all the weird ways I say things when a camera is pointed at me! But it’s still pretty cool, so I’ll share it with you guys! 😛

Merry Christmas!! I decided that as a present to my crocheting blog-readers, I would post up a free tutorial for my Crocheted Popcorn Garlands for one week (until Jan. 1), so grab it while you can before I take the pattern down! I wanted to crochet my own garland for my own tree, using a pattern that wasn’t too complicated (so I could work on it while vending at Renegade!) but still looked a lot like popcorn. I researched around a little bit to see what patterns were out there, but I just wasn’t quite satisfied with the ones I found, so I Frankensteined my own! ============================================= ** Happy new year! I have removed the free pattern and will post it to Etsy some time soon. Thank you! 🙂 **

I know I still need to blog about Seattle, and Portland, and Renegade Craft Fair!! But I also really need to pick up the house! After a couple weeks of traveling and crafting, the house has exploded with slivers of paper, clothing, yarn bits, bubble wrap, and jewelry findings! I also need to post Renegade leftovers up on Etsy for you guys! But anyway, here are some peeks of our Xmas tree. I don’t want to take a full-length shot, because the tree is sandwiched between two chairs, which are covered in various ugly blankets to keep dog dirt and hair off them! I bought my tree on eBay, and my goal was to decorate it only with vintage and handmade! This is the first year I’ve really felt like getting my own tree. I’m becoming sentimental for Christmas. It’s unfortunate that Hairy is such a grump and keeps saying, “I HATE CHRISTMAS!” But I got us a big pink Christmas tree anyway! Vintage popcorn and candy garlands, plus one popcorn garland crocheted by me (my own pattern…which I may post later!). Ornaments by CakeSpy, Chloe (a surprise giftie!), and 12LegsCuriosities. Sadly, due to my busy schedule, I was not able to handmake many presents this year :(. I am thinking maybe next year I won’t vent at a holiday fair, but just put stuff on Etsy and craft for my loved-ones. But we’ll see! There’s always this weird pull for me to set up my fabric food truck and sit around for 8 hours hawking my wares :P.

Today I wore my $5 shirt! Manda called in the evening to ask if she could spend the night. Then we went to Chevy’s cuz we’re classy ladies and ate a lot of food and drank a margarita. We were smart and went to Mrs. Field’s FIRST to get dessert before the mall closed. We are totes mall rats now! We have agendas and stratagems to maximize our mall food experience! When we got home, I started working on my stuff for Renegade Craft Fair, and she pointed out some candy I had picked up in Seattle. CANDY CANE POP ROCKS! And then for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to put Pop Rocks on top of our brownies. There’s no logic here, folks. The moral of this story is that Manda and I have not changed. If we had a MacBook and a webcam 20 years ago, you would have caught us doing the exact same thing: doing stupid crap and eating gross food on camera. BFFS! p.s. I keep opening my mouth like a dying fish in order to hear the Pop Rocks poppin’ in my mouf! It’s too bad you also have to see all that mashed up brownie in there. Untitled from Twinkie Chan on Vimeo.

Click on the poster for more info! Come visit my booth this weekend! I’ll have tons of goodies as well as copies of the book for sale. This is a new venue for Renegade SF, so it should be interesting! I’m all the way in the back next to the DJ booth! : / We’ll have scarves, ice cream scoop hair pieces, brooches, mini books, stickers, brand new tshirts, lots n lots of stuff 🙂

Come crochet a cupcake with me this Friday, Dec 10 at Twisted in Portland! I will also be signing books for a few hours at Crafty Wonderland on Saturday and Sunday. Also I will have my very last audio/visual extravaganza on Sunday at Powell’s City of Books at 4pm. Hope to see you!!! Check out tour info here. (But note that the Powell’s event is really at 4pm, not 3pm!)

Don’t forget that I will be vending at the amazing Academy of Sciences in the rainforest area!! I am bringing supplies and you can design and make your own flower headband! I’ve been crocheting flowers all day and all night, so please come out and make it all worth it :). Buy tix now!

So a few months ago, I was asked to create a “get to know the artist” vlog for a certain site I shall not name. They never ended up posting it, and I felt like the whole situation was really weird and involved Yummy You product as well. Oh well. Sometimes you try and nothing comes of it. I keep trying anyway! BuuuuuuUUuuuuut…it did result in this blooper reel! I kept trying to do my whole 90 second spiel in ONE seamless and awesome take, which led to a lot of frustration!!! The final cut I submitted was not all one take, and it was not this same background or hair or day. Enjoy!

Elsie is running a “12 days of handmade” tutorial marathon on her blog! Check out our blingeee crochet hook project here! It posted today but I had been out and about in Seattle and flying home tonight :). We had a super great time (will try to get some video and photos up tomorrow), but I am so happy to be home for a few days! I have to scramble to prep my interactive booth for the fun Indie Mart event this Thursday night 6pm-10pm at the Academy of Sciences. I’ll be doing “design your own flower headbands” by the butterfly exhibit! Should be super duper funz!! And then Friday, we are off to Portland for more book tour stuffs!!!! Friday: cupcake class at Twisted. Saturday & Sunday: book signing at Crafty Wonderland. Sunday: audio/visual presentation and book signing at Powell’s. More tour info here! Portland is my last stop of this tour, so please come and say hi. It’s your last chance! 😉 click on the pic for info and tix!

If you don’t like photos that include blood…do not read further!

In addition to prepping for my book signings in Seattle, I am also shipping some Cupcake Coffee Cup Cozies to Schmancy. I know I know. You’re like, “Why did you ship them when you are GOING THERE YOURSELF!?” I just like to not stress about things. What if I forgot to bring them. What if I brought them, but then found myself near Schmancy without them. What if I crushed them in my suitcase. Etc Etc. So this way, they will be perfect in their little box, and I know they will get there safe and sound! Here’s some pics of the lil guys! So if you’re in Seattle, go pick some up from Schmancy!!! Also come and visit me at my book signings and make me look good. We’re taking video. You’ll be in it. Ok I’m bummed I just caught a really “ricidulous” typo on my paper inserts. AHHHHHHHHHHH. Hoping Schmany won’t include them after all. This is what you get when you try to make packaging at 6am after working all day and all night! Bummer!!! I’d just print more except I ran out of that thicker brochure paper……..! Thanks to blogging for pointing this out to myself. I didn’t notice it until I looked at this giant close up photo of it. Are you ricidding me?

Here’s my book at Borders. We pulled it out a little so you could see my creepy face peeking out at you. SEATTLE!!! COME SEE MY CREEPY FACE! Don’t let it down! Make every other city in the world jealous and come out and see IT!! 😉 I’m signing books all weekend in your fair city. Click HERE for more info. Events: 12/3/10 – Third Place Books (Ravenna), Seattle, 7:00pm – signing, audio/video extravaganza, crochet class (gingerbread man!). This is the only event in Seattle where you’ll get to see my awesome Power Point presentation. Free gift bags while they last! Possible Yummy You pop up shop. Do you guys want me to bring the Yummy You scarves? 12/4/10 & 12/5/10 – Urban Craft Uprising winter show, Seattle – signing books Saturday 12:00pm-1:00pm, Sunday 2:00pm-3:00pm (These are just me sitting at a table signing books and shaking hands and taking pictures with babies. Very low time commitment for you, plus, you can check out the craft show and shop!) Should I bring my fake tattoos to sell at the table? 12/5/10 – Fiber Gallery, Seattle, 4:00pm-6:00pm – crochet class. We’ll be making cupcakes! Free gift bags if I still have them. Gimme a break! They charge you for extra luggage now! Here are some photos from a few of my past events. We haven’t gotten video of anything yet. We’ll try in Seattle! Here’s me and Brianna at the Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica. She brought me a drawing. Isn’t she the bestest!!?? I look like I have the demon eye in this picture. So here’s the version where Brianna has the demon eye. As it turns out, she had better pictures on her blog! This was an interesting signing. There was some mix-up with the time, and people had just been waiting around waiting for me to arrive. Then, the audio/video presentation was sort of choppy because their projector kept overheating and they tried to cool it down with a sack of frozen fruit. I felt a bit out of my element, since my talk had been based on my power point presentation, but everything worked out. Everyone asked LOTS and lots of questions, and all was good! Here’s my very first crochet class! We’re at my favorite local yarn shop, ImagiKnit! I have been shopping here for years, so it was very awesome to me personally to end up signing books here. People, I do not know how to teach, especially crochet!! I had no idea what I was doing, and we had people there of all skill levels, so I kinda didn’t know what to do with myself. Luckily, Katelyn (sp??) from the shop was there to help out! Here’s a pic of me and Anna, who provided the ImagiKnit picture! Finally, here is a pic of the audience at my signing at Stories in Echo Park/L.A. I think we are all watching the video! I had taken a short video clip from the front of […]

Instant hot cocoa and home-made coconut whipped cream!

How does anyone keep their space clean after packing up their orders!? AHHHHH I have little bits of paper and labels and stickers and those plastic strips you pull off self-adhesive envelopes ALL OVER THE PLACE!! My house needs to be film-crew-pretty on Wednesday morning! I’ll let you know why later, but I am kind of freaking out! Even if I get everything clean and hidden anyway, I’m just sad I haven’t invested time in decorating the place. I don’t even really know how. I am not really visual in that way. I know when something is ugly, but I don’t know how to make it pretty! Oh well! Hopefully the crew will just stay in the craft room, and the giant wall of yarn will distract from the fact that the opposite wall is completely BLANK. At least we got my yarn swift up! It’s that spindly wooden thing next to the banana fabric-painting. I’ll make a video of that in motion cuz it’s pretty darn cool. I wonder if I would ruin the swift by painting it!!! At first, instead of the banana painting, I put up the lid of an old, super cheezy and cheap Valentine’s candy box, but for some reason it reminded me of a funeral wreath and freaked me out, so I took it down. Bummer. I still kinda like it! I’m off to clean up my mess and do a little crocheting before I go to bed and wake up tomorrow to CLEAN THIS PLACE AHHHHHHHHHH. I wish I had some mini afghans to cover the tops of our chairs where Bunny likes to perch and turn the fabric BROWN. Yes, we have the chairs completely covered in blankets now, but it’s super ugly. I could maybe try to bust out something cute to cover the tops on my own, but I have like a kabillion other things to do. I’ll just put scarves over them! hahahha

click on the pic to get a signed copy! Some of you who live far away or who just can’t make it to any of my signings requested that I post a link to purchase a signed copy, so I put a listing up on Etsy after asking Etsy if I was allowed to sell my book on their first! Just let me know if you want it signed to someone and what the name should be in your Notes To Seller when you check out! 🙂

For Thanksgiving at my parents’ house, Hairy and I made a coconut custard pie! Hairy even whipped up some cream! My bff txtd me a pic of her and her brother and sister, so we txtd this photo right back to her! I have most of the leftovers from dinner in my fridge now! Just for kicks, Hairy and I went to Kohl’s at 3:30am, and also cruised by 2 Targets just to see, since I’d never been out shopping when the stores first open on Black Friday. The lines around Target were AMAZING and just like on the news!!! Crazy!! I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to actually wait in line and get in there…not mention…check out time! Intense super shopping! We obviously didn’t buy anything but just wanted to check out the scene. We ended up being the only nerds waiting outside the grocery store at 4:55am waiting for it to open! Anyhoo, fear not, shoppers, if you missed out on Ice Cream Hair pieces or mini books in my Etsy shop. I will bring all those things back! But I don’t know if I can do it before Xmas. I have to build stock for my booth at Renegade Holiday San Francisco (now at a new venue!) and I will also be traveling to Seattle and Portland in the next few weeks to promote my book! Come say hi! Also please note, that on Friday, Dec 3rd, I will be signing at the Ravenna location of Third Place Books at 7:00pm, and NOT the Lake Forest Park location (I still need to change that on my website)! I got pushed out by Rick Springfield!! 😛 But if you want to make BOTH signings, you’ll probably have time 😉

SHOP SHOP SHOP! So much new stuff! Some of it sold out already, like the strawberry ice cream scoop hair doodads! Happy Thanksgiving!!! I’m gonna pass out now, and then wake up, and feast, and pass out again. xoxoxo

Okay, who am I kidding? If I think I can get an Etsy update by Tuesday “night,” that probably means at 4 in the morning on Wednesday!!! I’m still finishing up crocheting stuff, and I still have to shoot all the photos, edit them, and write all the listings. This is looking more like a Wednesday afternoon Etsy update. Sorry about that! Things come up that I never expect!!! Something really funny and exciting might be happening next week. I’ll keep ya posted! In the meantime, don’t stay up tonight for the Etsy update!!!

Today’s workspace! I am hoping I can have my update up by Tuesday night :). I’m still crocheting items right now, and tomorrow hopefully will be photo day!

Don’t forget to come hang out with me at ImagiKnit in SF with me. I’ll do a cupcake crochet demo and help you with your crochet questions. Bring hooks and your yarn stash, or purchase new goodies at ImagiKnit, my most favoritest yarn store in the Bay Area! Also, if you buy a book at ImagiKnit on Sunday, you’ll be entered to win a free Yummy You scarf! :). Plus I still have some goodie bags including my mini book, a button, and a sticker! Click on the link for more infos! Can’t wait to see you! 4 o ‘clock!