Author: TwinkieChan

Gang! I will be in Pasadena May 14-15 to teach some crochet classes at Vogue Knitting Live! VKL is a 3-day yarn/knitting/crocheting extravaganza which features: • More than 150 classes • shopping in the Marketplace with more than 70 vendors selling hard-to-find fibers, accessories, and patterns • knit-couture fashion shows • a cocktail reception with singer/songwriter Siedah Garrett, who will entertain attendees with a rendition of “Man in the Mirror” • a health area where you can get hand and back massages, make and take stress-relieving hearts and lemons, and share why you love knitting & crocheting • and so much more! I’m teaching two projects from my book, a mini donut fridge magnet and a can-o-soup fridge magnet! They are tiny and adorable, and if you’re a beginner, you’ll learn some neat skills! I wish I could link directly to each class, but I can’t seem to figure that out… : X. Here’s the class list. I’m teaching Saturday from 2:00-4:00pm (soup can) and also Sunday from 2:00-4:00pm (donut). Look out for the DONUT and the SOUP CAN! I’m also hanging out in the health area from 11:30-1:30 on Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be heading the make-and-take for some lemon and heart-shaped stress balls! I would love to see you there! Don’t leave me hangin’! And here’s the amazingly awesome fun part!!! Vogue Knitting Live is letting me give one of my classes in Pasadena away FOR FREE! (I want to be clear that you would be entering to win an in-person, 2-hour class at the convention, so you should plan or already be planning to be in Southern California in May.) Starting from this very second right now until Friday at noon PDT, enter to win a free crochet class with me! Simply leave a comment here on my blog, telling me about your favorite thing to crochet, or something you’re looking forward to learning how to crochet! I’ll choose a winner randomly via Random.org. Good luck!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I’m at the Creativebug studios this week filming a new series of classes for you! I also filmed a short video tutorial for this quick little four leaf clover to put on YouTube, but I didn’t have time to edit it :-o. This pattern is part of my Marshmallow Cereal Charms pattern that is for sale on Etsy, but in the spirit of the day, I though I’d post it here for you guys to work up some cuties! Little Four Leaf Clover Finished size: approx. 2 in. wide x 2.25 in. tall What You’ll Need: Approx. 5 yards of green worsted weight yarn. Approx. 10 yards if you want to make one double-layered and slip stitch them together. H hook scissors tapestry needle Abbreviations ch(s): chain(s) dc: double crochet rnd(s): round(s) sc: single crochet sk: skip sl st: slip stitch st(s): stitch(es) (  ): Work everything inside the parentheses into the next stitch. [  ]: Work everything inside the brackets the number of times indicated   With Green, make magic circle, or ch 3 and sl st to 1st ch to form ring. Rnd 1: Ch 1 (doesn’t count as a st), 6 sc into ring. Don’t join rnd. (6) Rnd 2: (2 sc) into each sc. Sl st to 1st sc to join. (12) Rnd 3: [Ch 2, in next st (4 dc), ch 2, sl st in next st 2 times] 3 times around. Ch 2, in next st (4 dc), ch 2, sl st in next st. To form the stem, ch 4, sk 1st ch, work 3 sc evenly in remaining chs, sl st to next st. (43) Break off and weave in ends.

It’s your favorite time ! It’s giveaway time! Thanks so much to all my wonderful and generous blog sponsors for the prizes! One lucky winner will receive:

I’m running a  giveaway on Instagram for a really cute prize package from one of my favorite brands So So Happy!  Click on over to my post on Instagram to enter to win! The giveaway ends in 4 days on March 15, and then I will draw a random winner. I was super excited when So So Happy contacted me, because I’ve been following them for years. Manda and I even bought matching hoodies at Comic Con when we were there in 2010! I can’t wait to see who wins!

On Instagram, I started seeing a few people post about some character named Apple from some movie called Turbo Kid, and I got curious about it. Manda and I watched it on Netflix a little bit ago, and we loved it! “Set in the post-apocalyptic year of 1997, TURBO KID is a retro-futuristic nostalgic tribute to 80’s action-adventure films follows a teenager who goes on an adventure to save the girl of his dreams.” It’s funny, adorable, and gory in the way that makes you LOL. Manda hates blood and guts and stuff, but she still laughed all the way through. Gregg drew her, too! In the movie, there’s no water, and the land is very dry and dusty. On the other hand, it was raining like crazy this weekend. I started taking photos of my Apple doll on my staircase ledge, but she fell into the dirt and greens below, so I just kept taking pictures of her there! The main character, Turbo Kid, tells Apple that she needs a weapon, and he makes her one out of a baseball bat and a garden gnome. She raises it in the air and shouts, “THIS IS MY GNOME STICK!!!” I am currently obsessed with crocheting tiny gnome sticks. I used the basic pattern that I created for the Peanuts Crochet book/kit (affiliate link) and made a few alterations to get her a jumpsuit and some cute booties. The lil gnome is based on photos of Mochimochi Land’s tiny knitted gnomes. I’m still working on tiny tweaks to the pattern and build so that I can make lil gnome sticks for my pals!

I’ve made these marshmallow charm headbands in my Etsy shop for a while, and now you can make your own magically crochetlicious accessories! You can use these little charms to make a headband, or separate hair clips, or fridge magnets, or big plush rings, pins/brooches, all kinds of projects! This pattern is free for 48 hours before I put it in my Etsy shop! (Until noon on Saturday, March 5th.) I think this is a fun way to say thank you to people who follow my blog and social media.  This pattern is now available in my Etsy shop! I also have a video tutorial on YouTube. A few words about the yarn. I always used Red Heart Super Saver for this particular pattern, because it came in all the colors I needed. I prefer to use the same yarn brand and line for all these charms so that the gauge is all the same, and I don’t have to think about it. The charms are all meant to be approximately the same size, or at least the same height, so that they look cute together. As it turns out, the peach color that I used is now discontinued. Yarn getting discontinued is ALWAYS A HUGE BUMMER to me, and I know it makes people crazy when they find discontinued yarn in a pattern, and they will ask me for a substitute. I wanted to wait to post the pattern until I could find another worsted weight yarn line with all the colors that I wanted. I think some people have mentioned I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby, but I have never bought from Hobby Lobby. There are some other worsted weight peach colors like Caron One Pound in Peach and Lion Brand Pound of Love in Creamsicle that you could substitute in, and I’ll make that note in the pattern. If you want smaller charms and don’t mind spending a bit more per yard, Plymouth Encore Worsted has all the right colors. Oh, also I just started checking out what seems to be Jo-Ann Fabric’s yarn line Big Twist, and their Big Twist Baby Yarn has a range of pastels that could work for this pattern, too. I hope you guys have a lot of fun thinking of new ways to use your charms! That lil clover is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!

The Craft Yarn Council sent me some photos from their adorable lemonade booth at the Craft and Hobby Association Show in January, where they had a bunch of crocheted lemons on display to promote the stress-busting benefits of crocheting and knitting. If you recall, last year, I created a lemon stress-ball pattern (when life gives you lemons… crochet one!) for the CYC and National Stress Awareness Month (April), and it’s really fun to see where these lemons are going! The CYC conducted a Big Apple Lemon Drive, calling on guilds and groups to donate their time to make as many lemons as possible, and on tax day, the Craft Yarn Council plans to hand out thousands of knitted and crocheted lemon stress balls with a message about the stress-reducing benefits of these crafts to taxpayers on the busy streets of New York City. I hope there are lots and lots of photos of this!!! I wonder what people will think? You can also participate on a local level by crocheting or knitting your own lemon stress-balls and passing them out to people you know! Creativebug just launched a #make2share challenge to encourage people to hand-make gifts and pay them forward! I will definitely participate and am thinking of something new and fun to share :).

Manda was rustling around in the cabinets last night and said, “I’M GONNA BAKE A CAKE.” We had all the cake fixin’s from when I was GOING to bake her a cake for her birthday in January, but she ended up staying up really late the night before or something, and I didn’t have a chance to surprise her. I guess we ended up surprising ourselves with this frosting beast we ended up with! I was responsible for the extra artistic pink blobs all around the edge. Then we wondered what to do with the rest of the pink frosting. I told her to draw something in the middle, like a heart, or write a word. She ended up writing RAD. So I hope y’all have a RAD WEEKEND. I’m taking Manda to her first ballet (Swan Lake) on Saturday night, which is her birthday present from me. What should we wear?!

Sometimes I forget that not all of you guys follow my Instagram. I do sometimes show WIPs that I’m working on that I don’t blog here, and sometimes I talk about stuff that I don’t blog here. It’s not a choice that I make on purpose, but sometimes I feel it’s redundant to use the same photos and talk about the same stuff everywhere. But this means some of you guys miss out! So, unless you guys leave me a bunch of comments that tell me you follow me on Instagram and there’s no need to double up on info… I will try to make more of an effort to do Instagram round-ups here, or to at least take one of my IG photos and expand on it a little more here. I did notice that some of you wanted to see more about my crochet/design process on the blog, so I’ll try to work on that more! But today’s blog is not about crocheting. It’s about Bibi. I wanted to talk about what’s happening with Bibi in case any other doggiemamas out there end up going through the same thing. Bibi is half Shar Pei and half Basset Hound, so she is prone to all sorts of skin/ear/eye/yeast issues which we have dealt with throughout the years. She was basically not meant to be on this Earth, but we are glad she is here! She will sometimes get a random lump or bump under the skin, which the vets usually feel is a fatty deposit. However, a few months ago, I noticed a lump on her skin, near one of her ….  uhh, mammaries… teets …doggyboobies… I don’t know what I should call it! It was just on top of the skin, looking like a clump of lumps, and it seemed to be itchy, and would get irritated when she licked it. After watching it for a month, I took her to the vet. Because it seemed itchy, she gave me a spray and said to spray it regularly to see if it helped. Yes, it did help take down the redness, but the lump still remained. So we scheduled her to get it removed and tested, and at the same time, we removed one of her under-the-skin lumps which was probably fat. Bibi spent the next 2 weeks in a cone, which she is a trooper about, but really changes my daily schedule because she can’t fit through the dog door and shouldn’t be left on her own to run around the yard like a maniac. I knew the news was not good when I called in for results, and the person answering the phone said, “Yes, the results are in… and… I’ll have the doctor call you back.” I was in the car at the time, driving myself home from a dental appointment. When the vet called me back, she told me it was not good news and that Bibi had a stage 3 mast cell tumor (which […]

TGIF!!!!! Were any of y’all TGIF fans back in the day on TV… Full House… Just the 10 of Us… Perfect Strangers … Family Matters. I was SOOOO all over all of that! I had no social life and just had Friday night TV and homework. THE BEST, RIGHT?! Well in case you missed it… Netflix is bringing you FULLER HOUSE!!! And grown-up Kimmy Gibbler is totally sporting a bacon and egg scarf in the trailer! I wasn’t contacted specifically for the show, so at first I didn’t want to say it was one of mine. It could have been one of the “inspired by Twinkie Chan” items on Etsy. But the costume designer let me know on Facebook that it was indeed a scarf from my Etsy shop, and I was super duper thrilled! I can’t wait to see the episodes go live on Netflix next Friday, Feb. 26th!

Hi, all! I hope you had a relaxing long weekend! Thanks for your patience with the giveaway launch. I was already late on a deadline and was doing my best to finish some crochet patterns before a phone meeting I had! Thank you so much to my lovely sponsors for their generous prizes!

Soooooo I know Valentine’s Day is only 2 days away, and you probably have all your projects and presents sorted, but I figured I would blog a quick round-up of my patterns for people like me who are super last-minute on the gift-giving (my Mom’s birthday dinner is Monday and I still have no idea what I’m doing for her..!). Heart-Shaped Pillow (which I also turned into Ricardio the Heart Guy) – includes video tutorial Conversation Heart Garland – the video post is here Sparkly Heart Lollipop Necklace – can also be stuffed and turned into tiny pastel plush hearts This set of Valentine’s Day sugar cookies is for sale in my Etsy shop, but the heart cookie is free at Michaels.com. I had really wanted to prep a heart-shaped donut for you guys, but I have a deadline I’m writing for, and I don’t think I’ll make it!!! Heart-shaped donuts are great for any occasion, though, so it’s still high on my list :).

I’ll be taking over Creativebug’s Instagram tomorrow, Friday February 12! Follow along and see some of my snaps throughout the day. You can also ask me questions about crocheting or running a shop or staying motivated or my favorite snacks or whatever you might be wondering! See you there!

I am a huge fan of Valentine’s Day decor. If every article of my clothing could have conversation hearts all over it, I would be a happy gal. I was super excited when Treetopia asked if I wanted to join their #xoTreetopia Valentine’s Day Blog Hop and Giveaway. On Monday the blog hop started with Jennifer Perkins, then Tuesday with Jaderbomb (looks like we both did glue gun hearts with different materials!), then Wednesday with Cathie Filian, then ME today, and then Flamingo Toes on Friday! Visit everyone to check out their super cool Valentine’s Day decoration ideas and don’t forget to enter the giveaway to win some Treetopia decorations of your own. You can also hop over to the Treetopia blog to check out some Q&A’s with all of us regarding the importance of the little things in decorating and the little things in relationships. Here’s mine!

I’m so excited to let you guys know that my first Critter of the Month crochet class is now live on Creativebug.com!! Holy heck!! This was an intense 4 days of filming, and you will see the other 3 projects we filmed throughout 2016. When they asked me to think of a fun critter for February, I chose a sloth, because it’s Valentine’s month, and he has long arms to hug you :). You can check out some short previews for free, and you can also sign up for a free trial. Here’s a link to my instructor profile where they made a lil trailer with me and my dogs! If you decide to subscribe, it’s a really great deal at only $4.95 per month for access too all the classes on the entire site. And they just keep adding more! (I’m in the process of working on a new batch of Creativebug classes…!). If you use my link, I also get a small percentage of the sale (just letting you know that it’s an affiliate link upfront). To be honest, I’m super proud of myself (pats self on back). I have a lot of anxiety associated with other people taking my photo or shooting video of me, and it was definitely an exercise in letting go and just being me and being okay with being me. I’m not going to get into it too much here, but let’s just say, I was sweating a lot, and I think you can hear the yarn squeaking in my hands…..(doh!). I haven’t watched my class yet… so you guys tell me how it is :). I can’t wait to start seeing our cute sloth army!

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!