Category: Blog

If you’ve been reading along with me for a bit, you’ll know that I am clueless about hats. I think it’s mostly because I don’t wear them, so I don’t know how they are supposed to fit, how big they are supposed to be, etc. I made a hat that fit me, and then when Manda put it on, it was waaay too big, and I think her head is more the average size than mine. Hairy’s is too big, too, for a ladies’ hat. I need a head mold of Manda’s noggin!!!! Anyway, a friend of one of my former co-workers emailed me looking for a nice gift for a young 11 year old friend of hers getting chemotherapy. I had my work schedule mapped out down to the day until October 13th to get my book and samples done, but I could just NOT say no!!! The hat is pretty simple, but I think it turned out pretty sweet. I just hope it fits!!! I found a different hat pattern that suggested an 18 inch circumference for younger girls, so that is what I went with. Fingers crossed!!!

Hoping to finally finish this sushi scarf tonight!!! EEEP!!! I’m 2 days and one full project behind schedule!!! Here’s a really random video clip for you. It’s not even funny. I need to be stopped.

click to go to Etsy listing We re-stocked the red/white striped candy cane heart necklaces! I also FINALLY snapped some pics of the GIANT pile of clothes I need to sell! I have to do it in segments or else I’ll go insane, so here is the first installment! I have to deliver my finished book of patterns as well as samples of every item to my publisher on or before October 15, so now I am in full throttle mode!!!! I wrote down, day by day, what projects I need to complete on which day. It’s a bit intense. I’m also making some accessories for an outfit for a fashion show which I will post about later, but that is due on October 20th! We have to be in in Houston the weekend of October 17th, so I need to try to have everything done before we leave. It’s really hectic inside my brains!!! I still need to buy red shoes!! EEEEEE!!! Also our internet connection has been spotty. I’m shocked it even works right now, cuz it hasn’t all day. Also the reply-comment function on my blog was busted, but I think it might be fixed! Sorry if I have not been replying to comments. I still read all of them! P.S. We saw Jennifer’s Body on Saturday night, and I have to say that I expected it to not be great, but….it was pretty not-great, and I love me a bad horror movie. The only gem I took away from it was, “You give me a wettie.”

Took a couple pics today for PinkZombies on Etsy. I just got this dress the other day, and it fits so perfectly! I don’t have a lot of orange clothing, but I think I am a fan!! I also took a few pics for ShanaLogic, hence the giant bow. I put on a darker lipgloss because I thought it might look more formal or dressy, but I kinda don’t think it makes a difference either way!!! No preview pics of the Shana stuff! Plus I think I might have to re-shoot. There were some technical problems….! I just ate some super delightful “reserve” gouda cheese, and now I’m going to have a hot drink and crochet a candy button scarf! xoxo

I am about to go to bed (4:30am) but I know a lot of you are already waking up (at least in other time zones)!!! Thought I’d share a little morning Bibi with you. Hairy says she gets the foot-dangling-off-the-bed thing from me! The dogs usually are not allowed to fall asleep on our bed at night (mandated by Hairy) but they somehow end up on there when I wake up! Bibi is really….. gooey and drooly, so the worst part is that she leaves her mouth goo ALL OVER THE SHEETS and even sometimes on my PILLOW (like when she asks for a morning spoon sesh). It’s ok. I still love her.

I recently purchased a cute panda-balloon print of a painting by Elsie from Red Velvet Art. It now sits very cutely on the wall by my tiny work area! We got a frame at Michaels and it was 40% off. Hairy and I have a habit of collecting prints here and there, but never framing them or getting them up on the wall. This is because so many of these prints need custom framing, and custom framing IS SO EFFING EXPENSIVE!!!! Kinda makes me want to make sure a print is a standard size before buying it, because I can’t keep spending $100-$200 for custom frames. It’s a little frustrating! Even with the custom framing “sale” at Michael’s, the frame and mats we chose came to like $180!! $160 without the mats! Carumba! So Elsie’s got up on the wall right quick, since it was good old 8 x 10! In other news, our washing machine broke and would not kick into the final rinse. I had a machine full of water and soggy clothes! The repair dude came today and said that we needed a new pump, that the motor had burned out because the pump was all CLOGGED. At first he said it was all green, which made me think of the two times I put the kitchen rugs in the washing machine…… but Hairy said he saw a mass of fibers and that all my machine felting/fulling of cute-tility packs and zipper pouches also seemed the culprit. Bummer!!!!! I’d read that people had to have their washing machines repaired due to all the fibers from machine felting, but I figured that with all the dog hair going in there, too, that it wouldn’t make a difference. In order to avoid hurting your machine, you should place your knitted/crocheted items in a zippered pillow case. This way, many of the fibers will remain in the pillow case. However, I always found that my items would scrunch down into the corner of the pillow case and come out deformed and unevenly felted, so I preferred to chuck things in there freestyle. Guess I can’t do that anymore!! Not really sure how I’ll resolve my scrunch problem….but I’ll think on it! Tonight, Hairy made goulash in the slow cooker. It was good! Right now I’m refining my pattern for bacon and eggs scarves and eating nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt with granola. If you haven’t tried Greek yogurt yet….IT’S A MUST!!!!!

My mom asked me to make this for my auntie’s bday in Hong Kong! Click HERE if you want to see it bigger. I had a lot of fun making all the berries but they were kind of a pain to sew to the top, all in the correct direction and place. I wish that I would be ok with just gluing them on…that would be so much easier!! But for some reason, I have this idea in my brain that glue = bad if sewing is an option. What do you think? I also updated IEatYuckyStuff.com. It’s an eggriffic update… In less yucky food news, here are a few snaps from Hairy’s phone of some of the snacks we have been enjoying! Ok so this might belong in “yucky stuff” but I think it’s yum!!! We went to “Porridge King” for dinner and I ordered a red bean ice. It’s crushed ice, sweet condensed milk and some red bean mush. IT’S GOOD. My favorite fro yo combo is original tart, with fresh strawberries, and Cap’n Crunch. I do not stray. Once I strayed, and it was super yucky, so, now I just get the same thing all the time! Here I am eating a nutella banana crepe from Crepes a Go Go (I think that’s what it’s called), which is this little truck around DNA Lounge. It hit the late nite spot! I am off to make more scarves!!! BYEEE!!!

click go see a slightly bigger size if necessary Soooooo, next month, I am going to be in my friend Margaret’s wedding (I also have to prepare a speech/toast!). I have known her since highschool, but she lived in Taiwan for many years after that. Now she lives in Houston where her man lives, so that’s where we will be going to celebrate with her! She asked me to be her maid of honor, altho, I really don’t know what that means. They are not really having bachelor/bachelorette parties or anything, plus, she’s in HOUSTON, so I’m not really sure what my duties are, if any, before the big day. Here is a pic of the bouquet she is trying to get her florist to re-create, so you can see the wedding colors. They have changed a couple times, so I’m not really sure, but I think the three main ones are red, white, and light-orange. Since my dress is red, she suggested light orange or peach (not too pink) hair flowers. This has been an interesting adventure as well. Anyhoo, my problem now is what to look like on her big day. It is HER big day, so I do not want to stick out like a sore thumb as the big freak from San Francisco. She is perfectly fine with me as I am, in my freakish glory, which I totally appreciate, but I also don’t want to look like a hot mess in somebody’s wedding. I dyed my hair back to mostly black for my brother’s wedding, but I just really don’t want to put my hair through going back to black and then going back to pink again. So HAIR is one problem. I see a few options: 1) eff it and just have dark pink hair + primary/blood red dress (ew?!) 2) dye hair RED to match dress (also ew?) 3) wear WIG (not my fav as is itchy and uncomfortable and hot) I have been trying to find a wig that might work for me. Ideally, I would like a little bit of “bouffant” in the crown, but this seems difficult to come by unless you want Halloween Amy Winhouse hair. Some options: I feel like most of them are so smooth and flat on top that it will make my head look weird, but it’s hard to tell unless I put one on my head. If I had to pick between those 4, I would probably pick 1 or 4. Shoes. So I just threw on the shoes I own that mostly resemble heels. I’m told the other bridesmaids are wearing RED SHOES, so I guess I have to go get some red shoes!!! The bride said to just go to Payless Shoe Source and buy some cheap ones that I will never wear again. Jewelry? OMG. I have no idea. I’m terrible with accessorizing properly… pearls? I always default to pearls because I think that’s what normal people wear. HAHAHAH. Um, so […]

Last night, Hairy and I had quite the random adventure! The weather was really rainy and poo-y and I didn’t super feel like leaving the house, but I also wanted to support my cute neighbor Tiffany Star‘s art show at Candybar. ******EDIT********* She posted some pics in her journal! Right here. As it turned out, we had a delightful evening!! We headed over to Candybar around 8:30ish. I got a Strawberry Kiss, which was sparkling wine, ginger ale, and some strawberry syrupy stuff. It was num num! Hairy got a michelado which was beer, lime juice, salt, and tabasco. I think he bonded with the bartender over the delightfulness of his bev. The desserts were really strange! I can’t even remember how to repeat them!! But I figured that we should try one, and we ordered something called the Fudgsicle, which included CANDIED CORNNUTS!!! I was also so so so so happy to have some time to chat with Miss Tiffany. Not only is she super adorbs, but she is also a really talented painter! We were eyeing some of her smaller pieces, but unfortch they were not for sale :P. She and I bumped into each other at DNA Lounge once a couple years ago, and then, while walking our dogs, we discovered we were kinda neighbors! I’m stealing some close-ups of her larger works for sale from her myspace! Her bf Daniel is also super duper nice. A bunch of us went to Bagdad Cafe afterwards for eats. Neither Hairy nor I have ever been to this place. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY!! It is open 24 hrs, and is yummier than Sparky’s!! I had a waffle and Hairy ordered a SLOPPY JOE!! AWESOME!! We also had a taste of Tiffany’s gravy on a french fry, and I must say that the gravy is EXCELLENT!! Her friend snapped a pic of us at Candybar, but, as per usual, I did not bring my camera since I know myself and would be too shy/awkward to ask for a photo. HAHA. If that photo ever surfaces, I will steal and share! I was super tired afterward and fell asleep on the couch around midnight. Then Hairy woke me up at 4am to take a shower and go to bed. Then I couldn’t fall asleep even tho my eyes totally hurt. Typical! I have one cupcake scarf commission to knock out and then I have to super focus on making samples for my book. I only have a month!! YIKES!!! Oh, P.S.!! Tiffany is selling a pair of the black Jeffrey Campbell Unicorn Heels in size 5 1/2, I think. Let me know if you are interested! I think she’s selling them for $50. No box.

I’ve been knee-deep in beads for the past few days. I really love hand-sewing them to EVERYTHING, but it’s so time-consuming and probably not the best use of the time/money equation…but I have to follow my heart and just blow 4 days sewing beads if I want to! All for you guys, all for you!!!! 😉 I just took product photos of everything and am now editing them. Tomorrow will be shooting the modeling photos (I may drag Manda into this if she comes over) and posting the listings!! One more exciting thing that’s been happening is the collaborations I’m doing with other designers so that I can have products that I don’t necessarily know how to make, like clothing and jewelry. I horribly photoshopped this horribly lit photo of a skirt collab with Poppy’s Wicked Garden along with one of my Princess Girly Girl Cake Clutches. They looked pretty cool together in person!!! I could easily walk out of the house decked out in Twinkie Chan garb and not feel embarassed about it! 😛 In fact, I wore this skirt to the MAGIC tradeshow. So comfy and so cute!! I will be offering 4 custom-sized tutu skirts in custom Twinkie Chan fabric. I’m not sure if I’ll ever make more because custom fabric is so expensive, so, I suggest thinking about snatching one up while they exist! p.s this particular clutch (with inside pocket, magnetic clasp, and optional gold shoulder chain) will not be posted up in the next update. I forgot to think ahead and order purse chain, so I want to wait for that to come in first. Also, I tested my gluing technique for attaching the sprinkle beads to the purse, and I was not satisfied, so I might either keep this one for myself, or post it later at a reduced price. This is why I started sewing them on! 😛 OK, back to editing photos!

I’m being so Asian right now!!! I grew up on this stuff! I want a photo one day of me, passed out on the floor, covered in empty Vitasoy boxes! For those not in the know, it’s a soy drink….basicallly soy beans, water, and sugar. It’s soy-riffic. If any Vitasoy reps out there want to sponsor me, I would be honored to wear your Vitasoy merchandise. May I suggest an insulated Vitasoy fanny pack to keep your favorite beverage cool while you are out and about? The first idea’s free…. Okay, now, I go and shoot product photos for Etsy update! I need to come up with fun names for my felted bows, like LuvBerry Cheesecake!

I’m making a handful of one-of-a-kind decorated bows. You’ll get to decide if the one you buy gets sent as a hairclip or giant pin (I wore mine as a giant pin on my skirt when I ran around the tradeshow). There will be all sorts of flavors and styles!! Once I get the bows decorated, I will get pics of EVERYTHING (bows, scarflets, necklaces, skirts, one-of-a-kind tees) and update the store! Almost there!!! In other news, this was fun to read outloud: My Immortal. I know a lot of you probably already knew about this, but I am a complete stranger to the fan fic world, and this just about blew my top off! Enjoy!

Hey, Gang! Okay, so I know this is not an Etsy update post…but I’m working on it!! I’ve decided to do a ton of handsewn beading, so now it’s taking forever!!! AHHHH!! Anyway, this post is about Jenny Harada’s book she is working on for F+W, called Me Make Monster! I will be contributing a pattern to it!! And if you go to her blog, it appears she is still looking for some mons-tributions! I am not known for being a monster-maker, but I sort of combined my foodie tendencies with some creature features to come up with a fun (and hopefully not too confusing) project! Here’s a sneakity peakity: Sorry I never got a chance to take a decent picture of it!!! I concocted it and made samples of it in a hurry to ship it off!! Last night, we unexpectedly ate dinner at Dessert Republic and then somehow ended up BOWLING!!! I only had my phone to take a video snip, so here are a few seconds of Rock n Bowl for ya! Um, I rule. That’s me with 2 strikes in a row. Unfortch, I didn’t make the turkey! I leave you with a cute picture of Bibi….being … cute. Hairy had piled up some pillows for himself on the couch, and Bibi helped herself to them!

I wanted to take some progress pics of the cake clutch while the sun was still out. It’s not done yet. It still needs the zipper installed (which also has the cherry zipper danglies) and possibly a purse snap for the flap. The pom poms and button are just laying on top, un-attached. Here was the sketch: Here’s the real deal: There’s a pocket inside, too. You can also see the D-rings to optionally snap on a chain. It actually came out a bit smaller than I had planned! But it’s still pretty cute. I carried a mohair blend with gold sparklies along with my Cascade 220 in the white layer cake. Pink + gold =

This is the first time I asked Hairy really quick to take my WIWT pic before we jumped into the truck to deliver a big pile of dirt to my mom (long story). It’s kinda fuzzy cuz he used his iPhone! Dress: “Audrey”, a purchase on sale from a little boutique in Little Osaka on our L.A. trip Necklace: Twinkie Chan/Faeriesmak collab! (will be posted to Etsy some time next week!) Shoes: Em&Sprout So now I have my new dream hair picture. I saw it while looking at somebody’s MySpace page: I have ‘fro envy. I know that’s really weird. I would actually give up pink hair if I could have a perm, but I’d have to grow out my color before perming my hair, and I don’t think I have that kind of patience!! Okay, so Zwzzy twittered that she wish she were a friend of lions. So I photoshopped this delight in like 2 seconds: I think she appears to be at home in the Savannah with her pride. So joyous!! Also, I was on the hunt for some hair accessories to wear as maid of honor in my friend Margaret’s wedding in October. She asked me to find something peach-colored, so I made this collage for her to help me pick: She picked 3 or 4. I’m picking 4 because the red picks up the color of the dresses (I know, primary red and peach are really weird colors…..there is a story behind that… plus I think I might dye my hair red for that to keep the number of strange colors down!!). Lots of people on Flickr seemed to like 3 because of the sproingy feathers, but I’ve never worn feathers in my hair before! On Friday night, Hairy, Manda and I had Thai food in Mountain View and then saw Inglorious Basterds. It was good times. See it! I especially enjoyed the Italian hand gestures. I’m a bit crazed right now, because I’m going to Vegas on Tuesday, just for the day, to check out the MAGIC tradeshow and to take a meeting with a company my peeps have been talking to. It was suggested that I bring some samples. But you guys know me. I don’t usually have much stock laying around, so I’ve been trying to make some purses and maybe a grapefruit scarf to bring. The clock is ticking. I best get back to work!

Re-freshed my hair color, took the dogs to my parents’, and now packing like mad. I would like to get into L.A. before 3 a.m. but perhaps this is a pipe dream!! Hairy wants to go to Canter’s as soon as we arrive. He is cray cray!!! Hopefully I will have lots of fun pics of the weekend. Let’s hope it’s not too devastatingly HOT! We are going to Disneyland on Saturday, and probably bumming around LA/Hollywood on Sunday. And hopefully having lunch with Renee on Monday. Seeing a good handful of old and new friends! Here is a quick sketch of a felted cake clutch I am going to try to make for you guys. I need to re-fill my Etsy shop SOON!!! That’s next week’s goal!! Corn Dogs & Funnel Cakes,

1. Vintage Scottie Bookends 2. Vintage 40s-50s Record Collection 3. custom Golden Barbie dance dress by PinkZombies. 4. The Maraschino Dress from ModCloth.com 5. Teal Jumper by 123LaLaLovely. 6. custom JEM bikini! by MySugarDoll. 7. Vintage Ice Cream Dress 8. Honey Bear Print. I love honeybears. When I have time, I will make a honeybear scarf! I recorded myself clipping Bibi’s nails once and never posted it. I just think she manages to be a really good girl about her nails. They are REALLY BIG GIANT BASSETY HOUND TOENAILS!!!! And the quicks have always been long, so I can never really chop off a lot, so I end up clipping them almost more than once a week in the attempt to get them shorter, but I’m also so scared to hurt her! I should take her to a groomer, but, I don’t want them to chop into her quicks, either. I am sure that is just par for the course, but I can’t bear the thought of it! The process is usually two-part. 1) I use the doggie guillotine clipper to get off the big chunks. 2) I use a human nail clipper to clean up the jaggedy weird ends that the doggie clipper leaves. She prefers the human clipper portion, so I have to try to remember to get a toenail cutter and see if I can do most of the damage with that! I am sure this is only interesting to dog-people, and perhaps even then, only vaguely interesting…. As a side note, Bunny actually prefers the Pet Dremel to sand down her nails! But I don’t think Bibi was ever able to get used to it. Plus Bibi’s nails are so dense and so big, that it takes FOREVER to get anywhere with it. Also, I had this weird plan to make a collection of short clips of Bibi squeaking various toys. I think I got tired of this idea and gave up quickly, but here is what I had so far. Obviously it’s been a while. She’s a lot bulkier now!!! BibiSqueaki from Twinkie Chan on Vimeo. Click the image to go to Vimeo if the movies doesn’t work here! And finally, I ran into this cute gem while I was clicking thru my video folder!! BABY BIBI!!

I’m actually surprised I don’t get more hate mail from bored internet trolls! It’s not very exciting hate mail, but whatever. In other news, here’s a very ugly and annoying picture of me and Marissa by SFStation. If you want to see more pics from the event, check out this Shrinkle blog entry.

I’d heard that many people were excited that Elnett Hairspray would be available again. Apparently it was banned in the United States for 20 years because it killed the ozone layer, so people would smuggle it back to the states from Europe. The hold was supposed to be incredible, and every superstar’s secret for giant hair. It is now available at Target. The formula is not exactly the same as before, and apparently it is a bit heavier due to a higher water content, but people still seem to be pumped that this hairspray is back. I wanted to buy a small can to see how it compared with my all-time favorite: Bed Head Hard Head. Now, I am probably looking for hairsprays with WAY MORE hold than most people need on a daily basis. My hair is really coarse, and heavy, and just wants to lay flat and straight. I damage it to kingdom come and put all kinds of product in it, just so I can get it big and fluffy and messy. And I need a powerful hold to keep all that messiness up, or else it will fall down flat in 30 minutes again. Most sprays that say they have super hold just make my hair crispy, but still flat. I think the water contents are too high to keep my hair fluffy. Aqua Net is pretty good, and not watery, but the hold is still not enough to last me through the day. Bed Head Hard Head seriously does the trick. I can break crackers with my hair, the hold is so good. (Ahaha, actually I did this yesterday when I accidentally bumped my cracker through my hair and crumbs started falling into my lap.) But it also feels pretty dry when it sprays on, so it doesn’t weigh my hair back down. I was zazzed when my Safeway was carrying it for a hot minute, but now I have to track it down again at various beauty supply stores. Ultimately, my thoughts on Elnett are: the hold IS good! It’s an excellent alternative to my Hard Head. HOWEVER, IT IS STEEENKY!!!!!! I was suffocating myself (and Bibi) while getting it in my hair. I figured this smell would fade out after the spray dried, but I still feel like I can smell a heavy, perfumey, yucky stench around my head. I am not digging that. I will be sticking with my Bed Head Hard Head. Sorry, Ellnet!

We’re going to this tomorrow!!! We’ll see how early we can get there. We usually don’t even wake up until noon!!! Or way after noon!! Marissa had mentioned that new lolita shops were opening up and her friends were driving up for it, but I didn’t know it was a part of this whole “summit” thing until Amy berated me for not having Azn pride. I’m so curious about how crowded Japantown will end up being!

Thanks for stopping by, Chuck, and giving me the opportunity to assess you. But as it turns out, I’m a total scam artist, and you’re just a cartoon, so thanks for the nonrefundable payment. Have a nice day! I’m not really a doctor, I just play one in bad photoshop cartoons. This really cute doctor tee is by www.SickForCute.com. Get one at a great promo price!!

I wondered earlier where our closest Ranch 99 was. Usually, if we ever make it to Ranch 99, we’re in Milpitas or Cupertino, and I was sure there was one closer to SF. Hairy looked it up, and the next thing we knew, we were at the Ranch 99 in Daly City. This Ranch 99 is in the middle of an Asian strip mall, filled to the brim with new hole-in-the-wall places to eat at! Like The Porridge King, Teaven (Like heaven, except, with TEA), and SPICY ELEMENTS (now with NEW elements!). Here are some of the weird things we picked up at Ranch 99. Thousand year old eggs!!! Take that, Fear Factor! (I like them. I’m Chinese. It happens. You put them in porridge, or squirt soy sauce on them and eat them right out of the shell!) I grabbed this random can of spicy and sour greens for Hairy. He’ll have to report back on them. I kinda stuck this in the cart before even caring what it actually contained, simply because I liked the name: HELLO BOSS!!!!! I do like canned vegetables…canned corn….canned spinach….canned peas. Why not canned snow cabbage? I don’t even know what snow cabbage is. When we were traveling in Italy, we noticed that Pringles were EVERYWHERE!! SO RANDOM!! I had to buy some more. Okay, I’m basically the only person I know in real life who LIKES ikura. Everyone thinks they are disgusting. And finally, the reason we went to Ranch 99 in the first place: my favorite instant milk tea, second best only to the Lipton 3-in-1 we got in Hong Kong. I am certain that some of these will re-appear again as IEatYuckyStuff.com posts!

Bunny gets very cold during the cooler months here in SF. I don’t really like to put clothes on my dogs, but for Bunny, it is kind of a must. I also don’t love the idea of spending money on my dogs’ wardrobe, but again, as a good doggie-mommy, this is part of what I must do!! I was on Etsy today, and I ordered one hoodie and one custom-made sweater. For the sweater, I didn’t know what measurements to send, so I got this email in response. It made me giggle a little: Dear Twinkie Chan, Thank you very much for your order .: hand knitted sweater ” at sea side ” The measurement i need are .: CIRCUMFERENCE AROUND TH NECK ( IN INCHES OR CM ) CIRCUMFERENCE AROUND THE BODY ( MEASURED AROUND THE CHEST ) BODY LENGTH = MEASURED FROM THE NECK TO BEGINING OF TAIL AND ALSO , IF YOUR DOG IS A BOY OR A GIRL ( BECAUSE FOR A BOY WE HAVE TO LEAVE SPACE OPEN FOR HIS JEWELS ) I’ll take pics when it arrives. Surprise! p.s. Beyonce’s “Put a Ring On It” video is on. It’s scaring me.

1. Pink and Gold go go dress from PierogiPicnic. 2. Bear Apple Tea Coaster by SugarElf. 3. Pink Marie Antoinette Heels by zebracakes. 4. Ms. Rabbit Jewelry Box by thelovelyteaspoon. 5. Eden Purse by recycled rings. 6.Bacon Soap at FredFlare. 7. Knitted Panda Shorts from Monikapolitan. Sadly sold out! 8. Vintage Camera tee from Forever21/Heritage1981