Category: Blog

It was my birthday on Wednesday, and it seemed like a really great time to share my cupcake/mini-cake hair clip pattern with you guys! I designed these little cakes to be somewhat short and low profile, so that they look good as a hair accessory. The best part of all is that you can use real cupcake toppers to decorate your mini cakes, which gives you tons of options for gifts and holiday outfits! The video tutorial is also up  on my YouTube channel! The typed-out pattern is below. For a printer-friendly PDF with more how-to photos, please check out the pattern in my Etsy shop!

(Previously posted at Michaels.com) My Halloween memories are filled with carving jack-o-lanterns and creating DIY costumes, but my number one most favorite part about Halloween is the candy! Now you can make and trade these fun candy-bar inspired crochet clutch purses. Pick your favorite candy-wrapper colors and personalize your clutch with felt lettering. Stash your keys, phone, and small items when you go out, or put your clutch in a larger bag to keep your makeup, snacks, pencils, or crochet hooks safe. This project is so easy, you’ll have a delicious collection of candy bar clutches in no time!

There’s no rest for the wicked! I’ll be vending at Crafty Bastards in Washington DC at Union Market! The fair is two days, September 27 and 28, and I will be there ONLY Saturday. JUST SATURDAY!!! So if you East Coasters want to say hi, and I hope you do, please remember I’ll only be there for one day. I wanted to have another day to be a touron! Tickets are on sale now for a reduced price, $5 for one day and $8 for 2 days. See you there!!!!! What do you think the weather will be like? What do you think I should bring to sell at my booth? I haven’t been to DC since 6th grade!! (omg I wish I had a photo to post here, but they are all at my parents’ house, if they exist!)

Last Saturday night, I took Yummy You! to San Francisco’s first Kawaii Land , a cute shopping event and fashion show, at Ruby Skye. I debuted our new Bibi character in the form of t-shirts, tank tops, and a plushy pillow!

I’m sorry I have not been great at blogging! Renegade prep always gets me in a frenzy, and then right after Renegade, I had another deadline to write a pattern and make a sample for something that’s happening in October … and also make a promo video for it! Anyway, I have a teeny tiny breather right now, sorta, so I can show you a few iPhone snaps from Renegade. Unfortch, my photos are kinda sad this year, because I didn’t really get a chance to pop out and take a bunch of photos! Here are just a few from before the show opened, when there was nobody around yet!     That new pink and white elephant cookie scarf will be going up in my Etsy shop soon, as well as some of the other newer goodies, like the frosting dollop hair clips and bubble gum hair clips!   We’re also working on getting some of the newer animal donuts into the shop, like the chocolate bear, green froggie, lemon kitty, blueberry doggie, strawberry bunny, and lavender bear! We’re gonna have some pandas, too! Here are a few snaps I saw on Instagram: I forgot to mention that a few people kept mistaking my booth for an actual food booth, because of the “corndog, pizza, snow cone” sign across the top. One guy even seemed kind of mad about the lack of real snow cones, and then he stormed off, and I couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not! On the first day of the fair, Saturday, I met Leslie/CrochetBug who is a crazy prolific crocheter, so you should definitely check out her blog if you love crochet! She also took better snaps than I did of my booth :P. Why didn’t we take a photo together!??! On the second day of the fair, one of the first people to visit my booth was this gal Kimi who had come from Sacramento to say hi. She was super duper sweet! Craft shows are a lot of work for me and my crochet elves, and I’m always like, “WHyyyYYY do I do these shows!??!” but then I remember that it’s a rare opportunity to meet some of you guys in person, and that is very special indeed!

Bay Area friends!!! Please come visit Renegade SF next weekend (not this weekend) at Fort Mason from 11am – 6pm on Saturday and Sunday! I’ll be there with my Carnival Food booth and some new never-seen-before goodies! If you visited last year, I’ll be in kinda the same place I was last Spring…..in the back, in booth #45, so keep on walking!! Hope to see you there!

1. You Shall Be Queen Dress – Lady Petrova – This boutique is pretty amazing and fits the bill for any flowery pastel space babe (that’s you, too, amirite?).  If you have never visited Lady Petrova, and you like clothes that are kinda out-there and different, it’s pretty much a can’t-miss.  This dress, while not super pastel, comes with a CAPE, so it WINS. And it’s reversible! 2. Open Your Heart Satchel – Betsey Johnson – Still a sucker for Betsey bags, but I realize I must stop buying bags unless I truly deeply and 100%-ly cannot live with out a particular one. Right now I’m using a cheap polka dot tote bag from Target, and it works just fine! Also it’s filled with hay from when we ate lunch on a hay bale and Manda dumped her purse inside of mine, spreading hay everywhere. 3. Lazy Oaf x Garfield socks – DollsKill – I have been eyeing these socks since the Lazy Oaf x Garfield collab came out, and somehow I have managed to stop myself from buying them. Maybe I should put them on my bday wish list! 4. Unif Astra Duster – Unif Clothing – I KNOW. GO HOME AND MAKE IT. GO HOME AND MAKE IT. Who has the time to go home and make it…..? 5. Flower Fanatic Sneaker – ModCloth – Irregular Choice always does it right!!! I want to buy some cheap sneakers and cover one in fake flowers and the other in big fake rainbow gems. 6. Sloth Princess Brooch – Modern Girl Blitz – I have no real reasons for this one, except, I just think it’s so darn cute!

I put together another little video to promote the Pocky Doll giveaway! You still have until Thursday to enter to win! Just “like” the photo of the dolls on the Pocky/GlicoUSA Facebook page! (You need to be logged into Facebook first!) I always have dreams of frolicking around with crocheted pals, and the Pocky Dolls made the perfect day-dream buddies!!! Here are some of my favorite shots: At first, I was going to crochet my own bows for my human-sized outfit, but then I figured it might save time if I just photoshopped the dolls’ clothing onto myself. That still took a long time anyway, but it was fun to make myself feel like a paper doll! If you end up winning the dolls, I hope you document your adventures, too!

Happy 4th of July! Today is also the start of my new giveaway with Pocky! To enter to win, you must “like” this photo on Pocky’s Facebook page. Here is the link (hope it works!) with all the rules. I designed these dolls based on the Pocky ambassadors that rolled around in the Pocky truck giving away free Pocky! The funny part for me is that my buddy Stephanie was actually a Pocky girl, so I used lots of photos of her as a reference for the outfit! Stay tuned for some behind-the-scenes footage and other fun photo extras!

Here’s some pretty fun Hello-Kitty-related news: First up for the crocheters, I just got an Amazon.com email newsletter announcing AmiguruMEI‘s Hello Kitty Crochet book. Pretty cool, right? You can pre-order it now, and it arrives in September! And, something for everybody: Hello Kitty’s first convention, Hello Kitty Con at MOCA in LA, October 30 – Nov 2! I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go, but I bought tix anyway cuz that’s who I am… Do you have a favorite Sanrio character? When I was in highschool, I was a Keroppi girl, but I am currently very into Purin and his hamster friend Muffin! (p.s. does anybody know the name of the little brown friend that he has? I don’t think it’s the squirrel. It’s something else. I used to have a teeny tiny plush of it years ago, and I wish I could find another one!)

You guys, I had no idea it was National Bomb Pop Day today!! I know it’s supposed to be summer time and popsicle time, but it’s like 60 degrees and gloomy where I live by the ocean! BRRR!! Anyway, if you wanna pick up a crocheted bomb pop brooch/hair clip, or pick up a pattern to crochet one of your own, hit up this link right here to my Etsy shop! <3

Yay! I get to show you one of the projects I’ve been working on! I’m collaborating with Pocky to bring you this fun giveaway! The prize is a one-of-a-kind crochet painting by me, in Choco Pup Pocky flavor! I made a cute lil progress video for it, too, and I’ll letcha know when that goes up. To enter to win, you must “like” this photo on Pocky’s Facebook page. Giveaway ends next Thursday, June 26, because on Friday, they are starting a new designer giveaway! A month of designer Pocky fun! Good luck! <3  

Dottie from Dottie’s Diner asked if I would model an apron for her, and after checking out her shop, I said, yes of course of course!!! She also sent the cherry thigh-highs as well as a cute tutu to go underneath. So thoughtful!

I know a lot of you have noticed that all my free patterns on Michaels.com have disappeared. And it’s not that I’ve been singled out, but if you check out “all crochet” patterns on the site, you’ll see there’s a grand total of TWELVE patterns, where there used to be hundreds. Now that Michaels.com allows you to shop online (yay! finally!), they also started to revamp their entire pattern section, so that you can check out a pattern and then also have links to all the materials you need to complete the project. Plus, the pattern layout is MUCH prettier and more modern-looking!! I can imagine that overhauling hundreds of knit and crochet patterns is a huge undertaking. I asked Michaels if they thought my patterns would end up back on the site one day or if they were starting from scratch. The idea seems to be that all the patterns will go back up in their new and improved format, but it will take some time. Meanwhile, I’ve been  trying to load up the patterns here on my blog when I have free time, but as you could see from my mysterious Mad-Lib-style blog post, my free time is a bit sparse right now! I also need to update the links in past posts so that you guys don’t keep getting linked into a black hole ;). So I’m working on it! I also just wanted to say how much I’ve appreciated all the support here for my patterns and my work. I definitely don’t make a lot of money doing what I do, so when I get messages from you guys letting me know you were inspired to learn to crochet or that you like my wacky weird take on crochet, I feel really grateful and happy that we can all share this fun craft together! I hope Sarah doesn’t mind if I single out her comment :P. I just got it today and it was Michaels-related, plus it was super duper nice! Also I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to teaching or making video tutorials, so I’m glad that they are helpful!

SOOOOOOoooooo, I have to admit, I have been failing on the blog front here. Now that I have blog sponsors, I feel super guilty when I’m not able to blog regularly. I should probably foresee when I’m about to get busy and then invite guest-bloggers to help fill in the blanks, but sometimes all the deadlines rush up all at the same time, and you barely remember to eat or wash your face, let alone organize guest-bloggers!! I suddenly had 3 huge deadlines all coincide with one another (along with Etsy orders). I completed one project, am working on completing another right now (taking a quick break but need to ship it this afternoon), and have another one due in about 10 days. These are all kind of secret projects with companies you know, so I can’t really share progress updates. One of them is launching in June, one in July, and the other… I actually have no idea! Hehe. Project #1 is a _________  that I’m contributing crochet patterns to starring your favorite characters from  ____________.  I’m actually only finished with the first deadline for that but have to hold off on the rest of it because my other projects are due first! Project #2 is a __________ that I’m crocheting for ____________. They will be holding some cool sweepstakes and giveaways that are collabs with artist/designers, so you’ll have the chance to win some _________ -themed goodies. Project #3 is a little ________________ that I’m crocheting, which will be part of a new interactive website from your favorite TV show _______________.  When they approached me and sent me a little PDF of what the project was, and the cover page had our logos on it, ___________ x Twinkie Chan, I felt really excited and proud!! It’s physically a small project, but I’ve been taking it apart over and over again to get it juuuuuust right. Soooo, that’s what I’ve been up to and will be up to for a little bit longer! 😉 I hope you guys have a great weekend. I’ll actually be in a cabin somewhere for the next two nights to celebrate a friend’s 40th birthday. Hopefully I can relax a little mentally and not worry about __________, _____________, and __________ ! I will leave you with a sneak peek of the next Yummy You! scarf (if you follow me on Instagram, then you’ve already seen this)! I’m just waiting for our shipment to come in so I can put it in the store 🙂

A lot of cute girls on Insta like TinyTangerines have been posting their adorable hula hooping videos lately! I would not have felt compelled to join this club, except my buddy from SuperGood also mentions hooping while watching tv, which seems to me a nice, mindless, easy way to sneak in a tiny bit of exercise without a lot of fuss (I don’t think I will try to learn tricks or fancy things). My buddy told me that hula hoops arrive in a somewhat surprising way, i.e. not in a shipping box, so I told her I would make a short vlog about getting, unwrapping, and using my hoop for the first time. Here’s the video! I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to use it aside from the 10 seconds I did in the video….but I have hope for me! 😛

Do you guys subscribe to any monthly goodie services? I’ve purchased Birchbox for my mom, and I currently subscribe to Graze cuz it’s snacks, and I know I’m gonna eat snacks! My buddies at Blippo.com now have a new, super cute, monthly subscription service called Kawaii Box! The service is $16.90 per month, and subscribers receive a box filled with hand-picked kawaii items from Japan and Korea. Boxes are shipped in the beginning of each month, and the shipping is absolutely free, anywhere on the planet! Each box includes 10-12 cute, original and licensed kawaii items. They asked if I would like to check out May’s box, and I said sure!

Soooo we haven’t had a Y.A.P. Time (Yarn Appreciation Post) in, like, forever. I only ever made ONE. I’ll try not to go so long again! This Y.A.P. is brought to you today by our friends at Lion Brand Yarn, who so very generously sent me a beautiful box of new goodies! I have definitely wanted some time to play with Keppi ever since it came out. The color range is delicious and fun, and all the balls come with a pompom!! It’s been pretty hot this week, so the idea of playing with bulky yarns is kind of icky, but there are some new yarns and colorways in this package that are pretty irresistible if you want to start planning for Fall. My eye goes straight to the black and white skein of Country, which I’m not really familiar with, but I love how big and squishy it is! I vote we campaign for some pastel and candy colors for Country! Unique is another line I’ve never played with before, but is nice and chunky and comes in a range of painterly tweeds. There are a lot of yarns made by our favorite brands that sometimes don’t make it to the big box stores, so if you are a  yarn-lover, you should definitely check out yarn company websites, because they have a TON of yarn, and you can often purchase the yarn online! Wool-Ease Thick n Quick is definitely a favorite among a lot of Etsy sellers, and it looks like LB will be releasing some new colorways, like the grey and blue one pictured above. The written label says “Blue Jay 514,” which is not available on the LB site, yet, so we should all look out for some pretty new colorways for Thick n Quick! Have you ever worked with Hometown USA? It’s a bulky yarn that comes in a surprisingly wide range of colors now. In fact, I was a bit surprised at the range just now when I took a peek to find the link. Is it chunky enough to crochet an ottoman with!?? Maybe I’ll find out! In my photo, Hometown USA is the one with the hot pink and grey. I’m not sure which one of these I’ll use first, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted on any projects!

Bread Loaf Letter-Organizer: That Thing You Never Knew You Needed…. Until NOW. I know this is late for Mother’s Day makers, but I couldn’t decide what to make my mom this year. I finally decided to attack this funny desk-top bread loaf last night! It’s a squishy adorable faux loaf to help you organize your mail, postcards, and stray pieces of paper. My video is more like a vlog than a tutorial, I think. I didn’t know how it would all turn out, and you can see me change my mind about certain things and try different methods for stuff. I hope it’s interesting and not frustrating :). In the end, I decided I would take this loaf apart, and use a styrofoam sheet in that center section, so that I can stab the wire arches through the crochet and into the styrofoam. This will aid not only in stability of the whole loaf, but also stability for the wires so that they’re not just swimming in Polyfil.  I would also use a stronger wire than jewelry wire, because jewelry wire is SO soft and malleable, but I need to do a bit more research on that. Without further ado… here is the free pattern (which I might keep tweaking later, who knows!).  

I’ve been trying to think of a fun video tutorial to shoot for you guys for Mother’s Day presents, but in the mean time, check out these patterns from my archives! If you have any requests (I probably won’t do flowers/roses), leave a comment! I’ll probably start shooting a tutorial on Monday or Tuesday!) ****

  Hey, gang! Mark your calendars!!! I will be selling my goodies at Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco, July 19-20, 11am – 6pm, at the Fort Mason Festival Pavillion. I plan to bring old favorites as well as some new surprise ones! See you there!

Recently, Michaels.com added online shopping to their site, which is pretty cool! But it looks like a lot of their knit and crochet patterns disappeared. I have no idea what the future of those patterns is, but you guys have been asking me to post some of the projects you are in the middle of! So here is the Slushee Cup Drawstring Bag pattern. I also now sell the finished item in my Etsy shop for those who don’t crochet. Stay cool poolside with this crocheted Slushee Drawstring Bag! It’s just big enough for you to throw in your phone, keys, sunnies, lip balm, and a little cash, so you can keep a light load while catching some rays. I reused a takeout soup container to reinforce the inside of my project, but you can still use your Slushee without. You can customize your cup by choosing the word or phrase that you like best with felt cut-outs and fabric paint (I used a custom patch that I designed!). You can even add a real red straw accent!        

I’m so sorry the blog has been a bit quiet this past week. I’ve been making a lot of kitty donuts but also have been in kind of a funk.  Elysse planned a ladies-only hike around Lake Chabot in Castro Valley, and I thought that being outside sounded like a really good idea! Manda texted me a few days ago that she wanted to try doing one active thing once a week, so I encouraged her to go on the Lady Hike, too.  We all have a lot on our plates right now, and she kinda started to bail on the hike because of this, but in rare form, I sent an email saying that I hoped she would still go, because, we are always busy, and we always de-prioritize exercise/taking care of ourselves. Creating change in our lives is tough, so I hope that we can all support each other in it by pushing each other to do things out of the ordinary. I know that I always put exercise at the very bottom of my list, and then I don’t end up doing it, and then I feel unhealthy and lazy and lumpy and old, but it’s a hard cycle to get out of when you have a lot of other things going on. Luckily, we both made it out to the hike! Okay, I admit, that I didn’t tell Manda that this was a 9 mile hike. That is really a lot for people like us who NEVER exercise and lead very sedentary lives aside from walking Bibi & Bunny. I didn’t want to say anything about the hike that would dissuade her from going!  I’m a terrible friend! But Elysse said that an out-of-shape person could handle it, and that there weren’t too many inclines, so I figured that Manda would be fine, too. The weather was PERFECT (to me!), not too hot, but sunny and beautiful, with a crisp breeze to cool down the arm pit sweats. At about mile 7, Manda and I wanted to die. I felt sore in places I never felt sore before (MY BONES!??!). I could tell that there would be a point when my legs simply would stop moving because they felt like they weighed 80 billion pounds with cement shoes.  We kept talking about pizza and waffles and spaghetti. Elysse and her buddy Kristen (sp?) work out regularly, so they were flitting along like forest sprites while Manda and I were like “AREWETHEREYET AREWETHEREYET AREWETHEREYET.” I’m proud of us for going and surviving! Manda has some blisters, and the balls of my feet are puffy and sore, but I’m so happy Elysse organized this, and I hope there will be more in the future. We rewarded ourselves later with hot showers, Prosecco, and pasta in North Beach!

I have a lot of childhood Easter memories, but I don’t have a strong connection to Easter as an adult. The only real reason it’s on my radar still is because it’s Manda’s most favorite holiday of the year. We have both been really busy and stressed, so we kept it low key, and I suggested we have a picnic in the park with friends. For the picnic, I wanted to make kitty donuts, following the instructions from My Paper Crane. I have a mini donut maker that is basically like a waffle iron and makes very cakey donuts, so I decided to use that for my project. I kind of forgot HOW MINI the donuts really are, so my kitties turned into bunnies since the almond-ears were so big compared to the donuts. I used melted chocolate chips, but should have thinned them out with something, because my chocolate was rather thick and difficult to work with, leaving me with some really mutated bunnies. PLUS, I used a store-bought gel icing for the faces, and it was a HOT HOT MESS! WELL, whatever, IDGAF! Maybe I’ll try with regular-sized donuts next time!