Category: Blog

Pygmy Hippo Shoppe, “the world’s smallest” shop, has unveiled “the world’s smallest commercial”! Check it out! You might see something familiar in there! 😉 If you’re in L.A., visit Emi and Pygmy Hippo at 306 N. Stanely Avenue! The rest of us can shop online!

Last weekend was the Craft Hobby Association (CHA) tradeshow. I didn’t go this year, but when I got a newsletter from Lion Brand Yarn about their “7 Wonders of the Yarn World” knit & crochet sculpture display, I had to share with you guys, in case you hadn’t seen it yet! (All photos are from Lion Brand.) All the sculptures were designed by Nathan Vincent. See all seven and more photos at the Lion Brand blog!

  Check out Issue 14 of Homemaker Magazine out of the U.K.! They contacted me a few months ago to offer a few crochet tips for beginners and chat about yarn a little bit, and it’s out now!  I ordered a  hardcopy, but I also just purchased a softcopy on my iPhone with the free Homemaker Magazine app. The rest of the magazine has a wide variety of tips and articles, from sewing to knitting to organizing your home!

  YAY! I’m in the current February/March 2014 issue of Crochet Today magazine! I’m pretty excited! I have already gotten a bunch of messages and emails about it! Pick up a copy and check out the “My Crochet Life” feature with me! The link to the free pattern for the Conversation Heart Garland is here! There are also tons of cute patterns in the magazine. It’s a good issue!

So I discovered something about myself around Christmas: I LOVE BAKING GINGERBREAD MEN. I have baked a lot of ginger snaps in my time, but there was something about smushing out the dough and using the cookie-cutters that I found really satisfying! I used this recipe from Martha Stewart via Java Cupcake. Next time I would try to make the dough even more spicy, like maybe with some grated fresh ginger as well as black pepper. Making big dough balls made me feel like Dr. Sattler going elbow-deep in a pile of dino droppings. (fast forward to 2:15 if you don’t remember this scene!) This made me giggle a lot to myself because I’m five years old. You chill the dough before you roll out, and you also chill the men before you bake them. They don’t spread very much at all, and they come out perfectly shaped! If you roll them out thick at 1/4 inch, you will have chewy cookies. If you roll them out thinner, you will have crispy cookies. I did both and still can’t decide which I prefer….! I didn’t have time before my parents’ Christmas shindig to decorate the cookies with icing, but icing is usually not my favorite to eat anyway. So my little ginger dudes were not as cute or charismatic…. but they were still yummy, which is great, because, I’m also LAZY. I’m already craving them again. I just have to buy more flour!

You go on a spy mish! As I yelled at Hairy in the car, “I’m not an asset! I’m OPERATIONAL!” (And then a discussion about whether those are mutually exclusive.) We have a history of joking about and even executing silly missions. One day, I will tell the tale of how 10 of us kidnapped a friend, stuffed him in a limo blindfolded, and took him to Vegas about ten years ago, with lots of planning and meetings and spy suits and reconnaissance and dossiers and fake moustaches and underwear-stealing. But on Sunday, my mish was pretty simple: spy on Manda and her coffee date. We had joked about it the night before, and Manda said that I would have to wear a wig to hide my pink hair. I have a few dark wigs from when I had to cover my hair for a very important family event in a foreign country, so I went with the one that looked the least beat up and gross, yet, still gross in its own wonderful way. I felt really self-conscious because I knew I looked like a  crazy lunatic in a wig, pretending to be a normal person, but Hairy said that I looked no less crazy than a person with pink hair….. As you can tell from all the annoying texts I sent Manda while drinking an Arnold Palmer and eating the brie plate, she and her date had canceled their plans. I first sent a text an hour before their alleged meet-up, but SHE WAS ASLEEEEEEEEEEEP/NAPPPING. MISSION FAILURE. At least there was cheese.    

A lot of people make and post their inspiration or mood boards for the season, and while I am not in the habit of this at all (my likes don’t change seasonally for the most part … I’m pretty predictable), I was just asked to “send stuff that you like” by someone I am working with for Yummy You!, so I sent her this mish-mash of things: (You can click on it to make it bigger.) I didn’t put a lot of thought or time into it, but in that sense, I think it’s a real gut-reaction true-blue representation of stuff that I’m drawn to. Colors, sweets, and friends!    

  One of my blog sponsors, Blippo – Japan & Kawaii shop, who provided awesome prizes for my December giveaway, also sent me a super cute stationery package! They offer free shipping, and their packages ship out of their warehouse in Hong Kong (so it may take a week or two to get to you!). I’d have to say my favorite item in the package is the Yummy Eraser set! The only problem with erasers like these is that you’ll never use them since you won’t want to ruin them! I also received a Lifestyle Calendar Book. It has a sweet and simple, plastic-covered cover, and I was surprised to find that the inside had lots of different things in it like little sayings, images of knitted flowers or felted hearts, day-of-the-week grids, and tons of places to take notes. Blippo has a LOT of cute notebooks and stationery. Some favorites are the Burger/Sandwich memo pad, Blythe note paper, Chocolate memo pad. I also got these neat emoticon stickers! They are currently out of stock, though! Some other cool sticker sets: Rilakkuma sticker set, Animal sticker set, Blythe sticker set. And finally, I got this cute little mechanical pencil that looks like a real pencil and says “Life creative.” More cute writing tools: Popcorn Otoki pencil & eraser set, Bunny Pen, Ice Cream Pen. Blippo sells way more than just cute stationery. They also have purses, Japanese magazines, snacks and candy, cell phone accessories, and more! Thank you, Blippo, for the super cute package!        

I saw the most adorable photo on Instagram posted by yayoichang of two French bulldogs in some cute headgear. I then knew it was my mission in life to crochet one for Bibi! I tried to leave the pattern pretty flexible so that you cam make one to fit your own pet. I don’t know that Bibi actually NEEDS something like this, as her body temp runs really warm, but you can’t say no to cute photo ops! I designed the head band to be double layered, because that’s how it looked to me in the photos. So the pattern is basically a tube (which is working both layers at the same time when you squish the tube flat) that you crochet until the length can fit around your pet’s head.  Then you just stick some ears on top. Easy! p.s. I can’t vouch for whether these will actually stay on your pet’s head for any amount of time. One good shake and Bibi’s ears went flying! I guess I would call these more of a photo prop! I think I made mine too small and they were also jutting into my neck a bit…but they were definitely WARM.

Candace came through SF last week for some brief visits while she traveled back and forth to Hawaii.  Right before I took her to the airport, we decided to hit up the mall and take photos with Santa in our matching JapanLA Clothing x Sanrio sweaters! I’m also wearing a TinyTangerines deer headband, and it’s kind of the best thing ever. At the mall, we also went stir crazy at the little Japanese dollar store, and Candace got really excited about 1) toilet brushes and 2) GreeNoodles made out of a mysterious green vegetable thing that makes the noodles “deliciously chewy.” I ended up getting 4 different kinds of Pocky and some other edible stuff, but I’m too lazy to pull the image off my camera. I realized that it’s probably a good thing that Candace and I don’t live close to each other, because, we go shopping-crazy!!!!! Would I have bought a $10 Transformers t-shirt if I hadn’t been with her? I think no! Do I regret it? Also NO!

I kind of failed to take pictures of my booth this year, since it was the same as last year’s booth. I kinda regret that now, but…..oh well! Here are a few Instagram snaps! I made a giant crocheted gingerbread man this year for the fair, and even though he barely fit into the car, I kinda felt like maybe he looked lonely by himself by the DJ booth. I would have loved to have time to make like 6 of them! Holiday orders really surprised me this year, which is awesome! But time-consuming! 😀 My buddy Elysse helped me out in the booth on Saturday. She was also my helper at my very very first craft show ever, which was the very first Maker Faire, and I believe, the very first Bazaar Bizarre in SF back in 2006. Here’s a photo I found from it! My meat box is my cash box. I realized the night before my first show that I needed a cash box, so I panicked and made one out of a cardboard box and some random stickers. Inside, I hot-glued cardboard strips to create dividers for cash. I still use that same cardboard box to this day!!! I can’t believe it hasn’t turned to mush yet!    

This is happening this weekend! Come on out! I’ll see you there!  

I was super excited when I heard that Jenny & Aaron from Everyday is A Holiday were writing a book. I’ve always been a huge fan of their their shop filled with vintage-bakery inspired goodies for your home. I mean, look at this giant die cut cupcake!  It was neat to follow along with them on their book-writing journey via their Facebook page,  and now that the book “Mixed Media Masterpieces with Jenny & Aaron: Create Incredible Art Journals and Handmade Mixed Media Treasures with Two Master Crafters” is out, we can all learn how to create some of their sweet, retro magic!They generously sent me a copy of their book to check out the projects and attempt to make my favorite. I picked the faux cake project, OBVIOUSLY!! While the project in the book has multiple layers and more stuff going on on it, I decided to stay simple with one layer and some doodads I already had in my house.  My decision to only make one layer was also heavily influenced by my desire to wear my cake on my head, as I do. There are many other fun projects in the book, and you get to check out all the tools and knick-knacks that Jenny & Aaron use to create their signature style. Would you like to win a copy of Mixed Media Masterpieces? Just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget! Since we are running into the Christmas holiday, this giveaway will end at midnight PST on Friday, December 27th. Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

I know you’re like, “It’s not even Christmas yet! Why are you posting a Valentine’s Day pattern?” Because the February issue of Crochet Today magazine is out today and includes a “Favorite Blogger” feature of me, plus a link to THIS free pattern! Hello! Okay, I was first told that I would be in the issue of Crochet Today that dropped in December, but as it turns out, I’m in the February/March issue which dropped in January! Sorry for the mix-up! I have a feature in the magazine titled “My Crochet Life.” If you’ve come here from Crochet Today: hello, new readers!! Here is your free crochet pattern for the Conversation Heart Garland! If you are familiar with working in the round, this pattern is pretty quick and easy, and you can make your garland as long or as short as you like, in whatever colors you like. Plus you can have lots of fun cutting out your own felt lettering for various messages!

My buddy Mary from Acrylicana is now teaching online classes at Skillshare.com! Her first class just launched and it is: Fashion Illustration Basics: Poses, Form and Function. It normally costs $19.00, but Mary is offering TEN (10) of my readers 10% off using code TWINKIE, so use the code now before anyone else does! Here’s the blurb about the class: Students will follow through from gestures to basic form, and are taught fashion illustration poses. The focus will be on three final poses and clothing designs in the final section and done in a retro style similar to those found on old sewing patterns. Students are encouraged to take these basics and infuse their own style into the work, as well as be inspired by trends in fashion, vintage looks, or their own fashion ideas. The videos will show digital media employed, but students can use whatever media they are most comfortable with (tablet and Photoshop, pencil and paper, etc). Mary is super-talented, and I’m sure you will learn a lot!

Hi Gang!!! It’s the 15th of the month, so it’s time to launch a new blog sponsor giveaway! Thanks so much to my generous sponsors for offering us these wonderful goodies! One lucky winner will receive: 1. A free one-year print subscription to Crochet Today Magazine! That’s six issues, each filled with more than 25 fun patterns! Learn more at crochettoday.com. 2. I’m super excited that you guys could win SNACKS for the first time, from Blippo.com, a super kawaii shop with all kinds of accessories, stationery, and candy! Prize includes Puccho Chewy Grape Candy, Puccho Chewy Mandarin Candy,  Lotte Dual Chocolate Wafers, Peko Sweets Candy Box, and Pocky Biscuit Sticks in Strawberry!  3. A totally ridiculously way amazing package from Scrumptious Delight! I have bought plush from her A LOT. She is genius. The Scrumptious Delight prize is a selection of plush sweets. It consists of a cotton candy, a chocolate chip cookie, two marshmallow key chains a bag of five jelly beans and five post cards, all in plush, of course! 4. Super sweet panda brooch from Glamasaurus! The panda brooch is made with imported fabric that is set in a bronze setting with clear jewelers resin. It is accented with a cute resin bow and hanging from the setting are 2 glass beads and a shell heart. 5. A 20€ ($27) gift certificate to PetitsPixels. a shop filled with cute amigurumi and other fun accessories. 6. Super adorable hair clip by Dina Fragola! Cupcake charm, brass filigree, and cute flowers! 7. A free copy of Wizard of Oz Crochet, by my buddy Kristen Rask of Schmancy. This book/kit just came out about a month ago, and I contributed two patterns to it: a Lollipop Kid, and the Wizard himself! It comes with yarn and a crochet hook! Just follow the Rafflecopter widget for all of your chances to win! (p.s If you are new to Rafflecopter and think it’s weird, I just ran into this hand dandy guide.) Giveaway is open worldwide and will run for a week until next Sunday night, December 22nd, at midnight. Good luck! P.S. Please make sure my email address can get through your spam filters! twinkie@twinkiechan.com   a Rafflecopter giveaway

Save some time next weekend to attend the greatest show on Earth: Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco! December 21-22, 11am-6pm. My booth is right up near the front of the Concourse Exhbition Center, and I’ll be bringing back my gingerbread house set-up! If any of you are already on the Renegade mailing list, you have noticed this: I’ll be creating a little extra sumthin sumthin for you to guys to take a picture with…… it’ll be a SURPRISE!

I blogged a little bit over at the Tissue Box Bakery!

Take 25% off your purchase in the Yummy You! shop today until 11:59pm using code GETSTUFFED!!! Go grab some perfect prezzies for all the fun people in your life! P.S. I would have to say that I stuffed myself the most on stuffing (yes), brussel sprouts, and sparkling apple juice!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  I am extremely thankful to all of you who are following along on my wacky life journey! I hope you are surrounded by loved ones and delicious food today, which are basically just two of the best and only things you really need. Okay, there is also SHOPPING, and, yes, there will be a Black Friday sale at the Yummy You shop. Stay tuned for magical codes!! Check in with the Yummy You Facebook page to keep up to date, since Selina will probably post it there before I do it here. I will not be having a sale in my Etsy shop this year. You guys are awesome, and I’m already getting quite a few orders in there, and I want to be able to deliver everything in a timely manner for the holidays. But I do hope to have time to post some new patterns and items in the next few weeks 🙂 Don’t forget that Ruth and I are teaching our beginner’s crochet class at Urban Bazaar in SF on Tuesday night at 7:00pm!! Last chance to hang out with us before the holidays. I would love to see you there!

Hello, lucky readers! Heidi and Amanda from A Very Merry Advent have kindly given you a discount code for $2 off their interactive e-guide! Use code twinkie2off during checkout! There are a TON of ideas packed into this little e-book, ranging from outdoor activities to craft projects to recipes for holiday yumyums. You get free downloads for print-outs, like an advent calendar page for you to plan your activities, and there are even instructional videos embedded in this thing! It’s pretty cool! If you are anything like me and have been fangirling over Heidi of My Paper Crane for years, marveling at all her holiday ideas and execution, you are in for a pretty big treat! I signed up early on a mailing list for this before I even knew what it was. I’m just that much of a dork. When they announced their website, I purchased immediately! Projects that get me particularly excited: baking a yule log cake, printing and cutting out her cute gift tags, and making butter mints!  

Helloooooo! I cooked again! Thank you so much for leaving me links and recipes. There is lots I definitely want to try to make! However, I became obsessed with the idea of making a tater tot casserole for the “Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner” that Manda and I went to, and HERE SHE IS! (That photo is pre-oven-ating. And I forgot to take a photo of post-oven-ating, since were kinda in a rush to leave.) I googled around for some recipes, and a lot of them included BEEF, which I didn’t want to cook. So I found and used THIS recipe from The Village Cook. I have a slight fascination with super kitschy “American” casserole hot dish type things. I was really excited to make my first one. Hairy made a face like this was going to be the grossest adventure ever, espesh after I said, “ranch dressing.” The recipe that I used does not call for french cut green beans, but I wanted to add, you know, “NUTRITION” to my casserole, cuz IDGAF. So I layered my tots on the bottom, then poured over the liquids, then packed on about 3/4 can of green beans, and then a good handful of fried onions, and then I packed on way more than 1/2 cup cheese, cuz, CHEESE. I started this project with about an hour to work with before Manda was swinging by the house, so I didn’t have time to defrost my tater tots. I just put them in there frozen. I’ve seen other recipes which say to just leave the casserole in for 20 more minutes more if your tots are frozen, but I didn’t have an extra 20 minutes either. It will remain a mystery to me, whether my casserole actually cooked in the middle, because someone actually took the rest home, CUZ IT WAS SO DURN GOOD!!!! People were like, “WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND THIS TATER TOT CASSEROLE!?” I was like, “If it’s gross, I had nothing to do with it.” But they thought it was the greatest thing ever. They thought it was so great, that it had a story, like, a history. So if you have a T-Day pot luck to go to (or any pot luck, really), I think you could be the star by making this bad boy. It was easy and yummy! The most work you have to put in it is chopping up parsley and chives. I decided, I do not like chopping, as it is time-consuming and I might lose a finger, but, hey, anything for you, tater tot casserole! The pre-Thanksgiving party was fun and mostly populated by people we didn’t know. I tried birthday cake or cupcake vodka for the first time. I also got into a small fight with someone over whether Chicken in a Biskit exists (it exists, OBVIOUSLY, don’t argue with me about SNACKS), but other than that, thumbs up!  

How I wish this were actually a WIWT post! I am dying for so many pieces in the Meadham Kirchoff for TopShop collection! I realize it may look a hot mess to many people, but, I need sparkly green monster booties like I need oxygen. Too bad they are already sold out…. and the collection just launched today! There are 60+ pieces on the TopShop site, although I thought I read somewhere that there were 80 pieces. The small sample I picked represents only a taste of what they have. While I’m drawn to the pastels, there are also other color stories, including this bright red and aqua frilly PVC jumper,  and this granny square dress!  

So I was typing out a blog entry about yarn swifts and ball-winders (non-yarn people are like….. YAWNNNNN…. hehe), when I stopped to check my Instagram. Manda and I are leaving tomorrow for Pasadena to vend at DesignerCon with the Yummy You! booth, and she asked if I wanted to meet her at the mall so she could pick up a few things. We ended up at H&M. I’m trying not to purchase so much crap, but I got sucked into the shopping vortex, a little bit. I tried on 3 things and kept these two. While in the dressing room, I mourned my bare knees. I know that everyone is probably like, “Your knees look fine.” But you know how it is. We all have certain parts of us that we find awful no matter what anybody says, and my knees happen to be one of mine (there are others, but today is about knees). I think I have really big knobby knee caps, with some flub hanging over the tops of them. I tried to shift around before taking the photo, to minimize gross-knee-effect. I don’t know if I figured it out. I am also bow-legged. I am unfortunately also really hot and sweaty most of the time, but I still won’t usually wear shorts or dresses without tights or leggings underneath. CUZ MY KNEES. Anyway, I snapped a photo in the dressing room anyway, cuz I always think those are kinda funny and intimate. This moment reminded me of something someone told me years ago. I remember I blogged about it then, but I can’t find that entry (don’t even know if it was Livejournal, or what!). It was about how I walk around town and see people’s plants in their windows and think that their plant arrangements look really good, and that I don’t know how to arrange the plants in a nice way. The person I was with said, “Your plants look fine. You just don’t realize it because you see them all the time.” This was a very casual comment and not meant for discussion beyond that moment about plants, but it’s something I keep remembering. Sometimes we forget that we are intriguing, cute/pretty/sexy/handsome beings. That people see us differently than we see ourselves. And even if you feel dumpy and gross and fat-kneed, you are still a beautiful mystery to someone else. I think it’s a good reminder for ourselves. Over and over again. *** On another strange note, Manda tried on some stuff as well. She came out in this dress that looked perfectly fine, yet, kinda like, not HER. The only word I could think of was “sporty,” since there was a stripe/panel down the middle. I said, “There’s nothing wrong with it. It just looks kinda SPORTY. If you love it, go for it. But I can’t put my finger on why I think it doesn’t look like YOU.” She said, “Maybe … it’s … TOO YOUNG.” WHAT. COULD IT […]