Category: Blog

For the last couple of years, Manda and I have always gone to the pumpkin patch together before Halloween. I don’t usually carve mine, and Manda didn’t carve hers this year either. We’re getting ready to decorate the house for Christmas, and I was like, “I was looking into what people do with their pumpkins so they don’t go to waste, but I don’t want to break them down and cut/roast/puree them or whatever.” I’m the only one in my house hold who consumes anything pumpkin-related, and I don’t even consume that much. Manda said she would call the San Francisco Zoo to see if we could donate our pumpkins to them. As it turns out, we could! Manda drove all of our pumpkins to the zoo. The zoo lady said that the little ones could go to the porcupines, and the big ones would become toys for the rhinos. Here’s a Brazilian porcupine with one of our lil pumpkins! So cute! Have you guys ever seen the video of this other porcupine eating a pumpkin!! His happy munchy sounds are the cutest!

Here’s a quick snap of a fun custom order I just completed. She wanted crocheted cup cozies to store her corn dog pens in, so we met up downtown so she could give me her glasses!

Happy mid-month! It’s giveaway time, and also time for me to say thank you to all my wonderful sponsors! One lucky winner will receive:

Fully moving into my new craft space – since switching it to my dining room –  has been kind of a process of fits and spurts. One of the last things I needed to do was hang my art, but it never really seemed that pressing and important compared to other things on my to-do list. However, a camera crew is coming through soon, and this prompted me to ask Manda to help me hang everything. I’m not a really good spatial organizer, and also, I don’t really care so much, so I asked Manda because that kinda stuff is really important to her, and I figured her opinion on how to arrange everything would be helpful. We decided to start with my BANANA collection (which is looking kinda puny and sad right now….. I NEED MORE NANNERS). After breaking the ice with the nanners, we started creating other vignettes until they all sort of melded together. These are just quick iPhone photos that I snapped. I know my house is super cluttery, but that’s just sort of the way I am: not a minimalist, and always working on stuff! Manda did all of the hammering and everything, and since there is a table in front of the wall, she did some crazy stretching  and lunging to get all the nails in. That’s what BFFs are for! She was like, “How do normal people hang art!?” And I was like, “I dunno. THEY HIRE SOMEONE.” It’s not perfect, but there is a definitely a good feeling in the room in real life. Once I get everything done in there (need to hang some curtains to hide ugly things like storage and supplies) I will definitely film a room tour for YouTube! I think I want to crochet a cozy for my desktop monitor, too!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that 2 weeks ago, I filmed some crochet videos with Creativebug in their studio, which conveniently, is also in San Francisco! Creativebug is a how-to/crafty website that is subscription-based. It’s only $4.95/month for access to all the classes on the site. That is pretty nuts, if you ask me! All the videos are high quality, beautifully edited, shot from various angles, and taught by awesome instructors. Hopefully my presence does not lower the bar on that instructor part :P. They pulled items from my craft room to dress the studio. Some of what you see there in the background will be projects in my book :). I don’t think that the projects I wrote and filmed for them are top secret, but they haven’t posted anything to their Instagram yet, so I won’t until they do! My classes will be available in 2016, and I will definitely let you guys know when they start rolling out! I was super nervous about it all before going in. Usually when I film tutorials for YouTube, I’m just by myself. If I say something stupid, I can edit it out (or keep it in). If I have to say something 100 times to make it sound right, nobody cares. If I start a project at noon and can’t finish filming until midnight, no big deal. I can angle and adjust my camera or laptop around a window or light until I feel like I don’t look gross. I am in control of all these things, but when someone else’s camera (or 3 cameras, rather) are on you, and there’s a schedule, it’s kind of a lot of pressure and also hoping you don’t look like a bridge troll! I did have a few moments where my brain stopped communicating with my mouth, and all sorts of random weird things would come out, but the crew was really awesome and patient, and the whole experience was really fun. It was definitely hard work, especially for a night owl and a hermit, but the people at Creativebug made a huge difference. They have an amazing team! One of my infamous stories is that many many years ago, I was asked to appear on HGTV for the show Uncommon Threads. I have always HATED seeing myself on camera, have always felt extremely not-cute because I only have one cute angle, and I said HECK NO!! Everybody was mad at me, but I was steadfast. No. Appearing. On. TV. EVER. At least HGTV asked if I could send some samples for a short segment, so my work got to be on HGTV, just not my face. Doing my stupid vlogs – and now my Youtube tutorials – allowed me feel more comfortable with being in front of a camera and sort of comfortable in front of somebody else’s.  I’ve never felt like I was a natural for videos or even teaching in general, but I tried really hard to get better at it […]

Hope you have a happy Halloween!! Here’s my super quick and dirty “costume.” Years ago, I asked one of my crochet elves Lizi to help crochet me some green elephants to mimic elephant topiaries. I always wanted to do a little Edward Scissorhands-inspired photo with crochet hooks on my fingers, but it was one of those projects that always took a backseat to more important things. I finally took about 20 minutes to snap some iPhone photos and sloppily Photoshop some images together. It’s just for fun. Maybe one day I’ll try to do a better job of it! 😛 I do really really really like topiary, though! I’m actually staying in tonight. I had a really long and tiring week, crocheting on camera, which I’ll tell you guys about next!

You guys, I’m in love. With kabocha squash. We were at Trader Joe’s the other day. I’d just watched Elysse break down a butternut squash at her house, so I had squash on the mind. I was going to also grab a butternut, but then I saw that TJ had kabocha and I went totally mental. KABOCHA IS DELICIOUS. If you aren’t sure what it is, it’s a Japanese pumpkin. You might find it in your veggie tempura. It’s quite sweet and tastes more like a sweet potato to me and also has kind of a starchy mouthfeel like a potato. I had NEVER cooked one of these before, so it was one big adventure, and I followed this recipe from Nom Nom Paleo. First, preheat your oven to 400 and then wash and dry your squash. I wanted to keep the skin on and eat it, but you can also peel it off if you want. To start cutting up your squash, try to carve off the top and the bottom, kinda like when you take the top off a pumpkin when you carve jack-o-lanterns. This makes slicing through the whole thing a lot easier. The sharpest knife we have is from Daiso… so… you can see what kind of tools I’m working with here. (Daiso is the Japanese dollar store.) I found that using a short stubby knife worked better for removing the top and bottom. Then use a larger knife to slice the squash in half and dig out all the seeds with a spoon. Feels like Halloween! Then keep slicing it up. Like half-inch wide slices. This is the part where I really wanted a grown-up in the house, because, this did not feel like a safe activity for me. When it’s all sliced up, throw the slices in a bowl and toss in 2 TBS of melted coconut oil (or butter) with some salt and pepper. This part feels very moisturizing to the hands. Then lay them all out in a single layer on a cookie sheet covered in foil. Then ya pop em in the oven! My squash fit on two cookie sheets, so I put them both in the oven at the same time, one in the middle rack, and one slightly below that. I had no idea what would happen to the ones on the lower rack. Then you bake them for 15 minutes. Then go in there and flip them all over and leave them in there for 15 more minutes. Then you can take them out! As it turns out, I enjoyed the ones on the bottom rack, because they got even more carmelized, crispy on the outside and mushy on the inside! I am not really sure what I would pair these with to make a proper meal, but they were so terrifically yummy, and surprisingly, even Manda liked them!! She is not known for liking squash or vegetables, so this was a super IDGAF kitchen victory! And I still […]

Here’s a preview of a project I’ve been working on for one of my favorite indie designers. Lil crocheted shrimp! I’m packing them up and sending them on a long journey to Australia. I really can’t wait to see the final product and photos, and to share all of that with you guys!

This weekend, Manda and I visited our city dump for the first time. I know a lot of people have done this before, but this was very novel and kind of amazing for us. First up: THE SEAGULLS. Manda kinda freaked out over these seagulls because there were so freaking many of them. I am internationally infamous for getting shat on (Italy, Russia, and here in the U.S.), so my nerves were more about not wanting to exit the car under a cloud of well-fed flying animals. Next up: I didn’t expect to see any art at the dump. There is an artist-in-residence program at the dump here, and I think some of the works were on display. Either that, or, the guys who work at the dump just like pulling out the weird stuff and lining them up on the hill. I didn’t get a good photo of this, cuz there was a guy in a truck giving us the side-eye for ogling and we proceeded to drive forward. Here’s a small shot of the inside area where we dumped our car-full of stuff. We actually had a lot of over-sized cardboard pieces and some large, broken wooden things, and not so much plastic weirdness, but apparently you just chuck it all (except hazardous waste) into this huge pile and then they sort through it later. Manda was a champ and had filled up my car all by herself. What the heck was I doing!? I can’t even remember. We kinda felt weird about taking a selfie at the dump, so, that’s why there is none of that. San Francisco has a zero-waste goal for 2020. I haven’t read many details about it, but visiting the dump was kind of a good kick in the pants for becoming more aware of what we toss or recycle. We’re definitely trying to make better use of our green/compost bin and are looking into buying a charcoal-filtered compost pail for the kitchen, especially since we’re trying to cook more at home.  I don’t have strong hippie-dippie tendencies, but I’m also not into turning the planet into a huge trash heap, which is also why I try to keep the packaging for my Etsy shop pretty basic without many bells and whistles. I still buy new boxes and tissue paper for shipping, though, but I guess we are all sort of working through how to approach this stuff. Baby steps!

Hullooooo!!!!!!!!! It’s giveaway time again!!!! Thank you so much to all my wonderful sponsors!!! One lucky winner will receive:  

I’ll only be vending at one holiday show this season, and it will be in SEATTLE!!! Urban Craft Uprising! December 5&6 at the Seattle Exhibition Hall. I also crocheted some promo art for the show of Seattle’s skyline wearing their winter gear! This will be on a billboard in Seattle, so if you see it, send me pics! I’m kinda in love with these little trees. They are super easy, and I’ll post the pattern here on my blog in a bit. Here is the sketch that I used as a reference. His hat got all weird because I kept changing my mind about the colors! This project really took a lot out of me, but it was super fun to watch it come to life. I really liked making tiny accessories, which is shocking, because generally I hate working small!  The total piece is 36 inches wide and 18 inches tall, bigger than I’d planned, but…. you know… IT HAPPENS. I almost ran out of that light blue yarn and had a heart attack because I was on such a tight deadline. Normally I adhere my crochet paintings to actual canvases, but there wasn’t a canvas that was 36 x 18, so I ended up cutting down some thick foam core. I would NOT recommend this. While the crochet does stick to the paper facing, the paper facing also PEELS RIGHT OFF THE FOAM. Use canvases or wood, when you can! So if you’re in Seattle and are planning to swing by the show, let me know if you want me to bring certain items in particular. My book won’t be out by then, but if I have time, I plan to make this mini-pattern-book with a funny theme that I’ve been wanting to write forever. More on that later!

If you’re looking for a new magazine to tuck into your book bag, might I suggest Caboodle? Caboodle is a super cute, high-quality mag out of the UK.  Inside you’ll find fashion, beauty, art, vintage, how-to’s, recipes, and q&a’s with various artists (like me!). They are just on their 2nd issue now, and it’s gorgeous! Danger: this will not help you if you are trying to be on a shopping hiatus (I sort of am… but am desperately failing…). This is not stopping me, however, from looking up all the designers and shops online. Just for a peek, right? Right! You can purchase a copy here.  I don’t believe it is available digitally at this point, but it’s nice to have some good ol’ paper between your fingers.

I started seeing these cute little blush compacts pop up on my social media, and they are too cute to pass up! My old blush is nearly tapped out, so I decided to check out Love Flush by Too Faced. Like the lazy non-makeup-guru that I am, I didn’t even see any of these in person. I just straight up picked one randomly, googled some swatches, and ordered it from Sephora. This shade is Justify My Love, and I’m actually really happy with it. I thought it might be too light for my skin, but it’s actually kind of perfect. I generally like my blush to be slightly on the cooler side, so I might check out some other shades in person at some point, but I’m super pleased with my blind purchase! (Sorry this is a crappy phone cam pic… Non-Makeup-Guru strikes again!) The other cool thing is that Too Faced is cruelty-free! I’m not sure that this blush is vegan, but they maintain a list of their products that are.

How was your weekend? I worked/crocheted for the most part (on some new patterns for video tutorials that I will be shooting in a studio for a website… more details soon…) and I also went to Elysse’s house to do some Fall baking with her and her buddy Ashley. They have a blog and YouTube channel called The Vegan Sweet Beat about vegan candy if you want to check that out! Obvs, they are both vegan, and I am more of a guilty omnivore with veggie/vegan curiosity, so all the things we made were veganized. I arrived late (I hate being late but am always late! Is there always-late rehab!?) and the ladies were cutting sugar cookies. The big project of the day was this Peanut, Caramel, and Chocolate Tart from Martha Stewart, aka, SNICKERS HEAVEN. Due to various reasons, Elysse “miniaturized, veganized, and Fall-ized” the recipe (Fall-ized = pumpkin-ized = we put pumpkin in the caramel). We had a little issue with the caramel. You’re supposed to start with sugar and water and then heat it until it becomes melty and “medium amber.” BUT, the water just boiled out of our mixture, and we were left with DRY SUGAR AGAIN.  Which smelled like burnt hair!! Then the gals decided to just throw the rest of the caramel ingredients in there (coconut cream, pumpkin), and it took 20-30 minutes on the stove of stirring, but we eventually got something caramel-ish. While I think our mini-tarts (set in cupcake tins) ended up squishier than Martha’s, they still tasted really good! The rest of our creative efforts went into decorating sugar cookies, which, for me, became an exercise in accepting that my cookies were going to look like a 5-year-old decorated them. I was not making friends with the Ziplock-piping-bag, so I gave up on that real quick. R.I.P. indeed! Ashley and Elysse, on the other hand, were piping pros. Here are Ashley’s cookies: And here are some of Elysse’s. I like all of our takes on decorating the kitty cookies. Do you know where atoms come from? Cat butts. LE DOYYYY. I will conclude this entry with some of my jack-o-lantern cookies. I told Gregg that the first one was him, because he’s always so cheery. The second one might eat you before you eat him. Do you guys have Halloween/costume plans? I usually don’t, because I’m generally overwhelmed with work and creatively spent. HOWEVER, I promised one of my favorite websites that I’d create a Halloween-inspired crochet pattern and also submit a photo of me in costume…so… I’m gonna try to bust that out in the next few days, too!! So much to do!! OK BYE.

I Love Yarn Day 2015 is Saturday, October 17! I Love Yarn Day is all about spreading the good feeling people get from yarn and yarn-related crafts. The #stitchitforward campaign encourages all of us to share our love for fiber and the fiber arts, teach someone a new skill, and/or share new techniques and patterns with each other. ILYD is running two fun contests RIGHT NOW. One is a photo contest on Instagram, and the other is a video contest where you make a video about how much you love yarn. Click over to the ILYD website for all the details and prizes! Here are some other ways you can participate: 1. Visit ILYD on Social Media: Check out the ILYD Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest pages to join in the official countdown to ILYD and find ideas for how to #stitchitforward including fun ways to celebrate yarn, tips for teaching others how to knit and crochet, free patterns, giveaways and more. 2. Create a unique pattern that is ideal for teaching a child, friend, or family member how to knit or crochet. Capture photos of you teaching your yarn craft as you “stitch it forward” and share your love of knitting/crochet with the people you love. Be sure to post this on your blog and social media using the hashtags #stitchitforward and #ILYD2015 3. Share a story on your blog about how you learned to knit/crochet. Who taught you? How old were you? What was your first project? Encourage your audiences to share their stories, too. I might post a video for fun with my yarn stash and a story about who taught me to crochet … but I’m afraid that if my next YouTube video isn’t a tutorial, the people will revolt!

Since I was obsessed with finishing my crochet book, my blog-life sort of took a back seat. I never showed you guys some snippets from my birthday back in August! If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw most of these already, but I figured I’d write a good ol’ blog entry for them. First up, my brother and I usually have a shared bbq at my parents’ house, since he’s a late-July baby and I’m an early-August baby. Guapo visited from San Diego for the weekend and also hooked us up with a giant chocolate donut from Bob’s.

I have been fiddling around in the kitchen a bit lately… mostly for shortcuts to feeding my sweet tooth. On a related but kinda gross note, I have a few cans of pumpkin because Bunny  had some intense tummy issues last week (oh how many loads of laundry I did and oh how much paper towel I went through…) so I have 2 cans of pumpkin puree left. (Pumpkin is good for doggies with upset tummies.) ANYWAY, I wanted to try a microwave pumpkin pie recipe. I used this one. Sorry I forgot to take a photo of it. I made another quickie Instagram movie instead.   A video posted by Twinkie Chan (@twinkiechan) on Sep 23, 2015 at 11:07pm PDT   The recipe did say this fell somewhere between a pie and a cake… and I can’t say I was a superfan of the texture. I MAY have over-microwaved it, so it might be my fault, but I did see a few different recipes with different variations, so I will definitely try out some others. My pie was missing that smooth, creamy, custard-like texture, so I wonder if that can still be achieved in the microwave with other recipes. I still have tons of pumpkin left, so … more pumpkin parties for me!!! (These are all pumpkin parties for one, because  Manda hates pumpkin.)

A video posted by Twinkie Chan (@twinkiechan) on Sep 21, 2015 at 11:47pm PDT So we’ve been wondering for a while about oven s’mores, since we don’t have a fire pit or such like. We finally procured graham crackers the other night (we already had mini marshmallows and chocolate chips), but nobody seemed that pumped about giving the oven s’mores a try! I decided to just do it by myself tonight, and I posted that quick lil video on Instagram. There was a bit too much chocolate for me, and I’d probably leave off one graham cracker and do open-faced, but overall, I would call this an IDGAF Kitchen success! Basically you just set the oven to 400 degrees and leave the s’mores in there for what I read was 3-5 minutes, but mine needed longer, and then I got impatient, so I cranked that ish to 425 and the marshmallows started browning right away. Just keep an eye on it. You can’t really mess this up! I’m curious about whether using regular marshmallows cut in half would change the texture…. like more goo and less crunch. This definitely merits a second attempt and further taste-testing. This would be perfect for a low-key get together when you need a quick dessert for everybody. You can also dump the chocolate and marshmallows in  a baking dish and get everything nice and melty and brown on top, and then use graham crackers to dip into your s’more goo! Exsqueeze me, I’m going to get marshmallow-wasted now.

The crowdfunding campaign for my dress collab with Betabrand is now live! The earlier you buy, the more you can save. The 30% off slots are already taken, so grab one of those 20% off ones while you still can! The print came out super cute. It will be a fun surprise for people who see you, cuz once they get up close, they’ll see that the things on your dress are actually crocheted!! I think it’s a really neat way to celebrate and wear our craft!  

When I started drawing and selling patches in my shop, I didn’t think anyone would really want one. I think the COOL patch and the lemon/tart patch have been the most popular (and like NOBODY wants a patch with grapes on it).  Anyway, a few months ago, a gal named Iris Nectar contacted me and asked if I’d want to contribute a patch to her touring show, Feminist Fiber Art, and I said sure! She was collecting patches to put on vests for the band Feral Jenny that would be opening the show. I sent her some Yummy You! pinbacks, and those made it on there, too. You can read more about the show and see more pics at her website. I really want that butter patch!

Ya might run into me in another craft mag this month: Simply Crochet Issue 35! A couple crocheters and I weigh in on the wonder that is foodie crochet!

I opened my August Yarn Crush box! Did any of you guys pick one up? Don’t forget that starting in October, Yarn Crush will have both knit and crochet patterns, so we can all play along! Here’s what was inside the inaugural box:

Yes, it has happened. It’s true. I finished writing it. I finished shooting and editing and uploading all the photos. All the samples have been sent to the tech editor. THE BOOK IS DONE. Obviously, there will be edits, and I still have to work on this big marketing questionnaire for the marketing team, but I am so relieved to finally deliver the manuscript. I was way overdue on my contractual deadline, and I felt really guilty and stressed out about it. It was my own fault, and I underestimated the time I would need to write it. I remembered how quickly I was able to bust out all those patterns for Michaels.com, but I didn’t think about the toll it would take on me to do 20 projects all at once rather than 12 projects scattered throughout the year. I got kinda bummed out and measured my self-worth against how long the book was taking me to write, but I also knew that with each project, the wait was worth it. Everything came out sooooo cute. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen quite a few sneaks of some of the projects. I am SO proud of the patterns in this book, and I hope you love them just as much as I do. Now I’m trying to talk myself out of buying a “You’re a freaking badass” present, like this totally amazing gumball machine purse from Betsey Johnson!!! SHOULD I!??! AHHHH. I tend to impulse-buy novelty purses and then never use them…. BUT GUMBALLS!!!!!! I also finished all my 2014 bookkeeping in 3 days, right after delivering my book, and I drove all my paperwork to the accountant this afternoon. What will I even do with my life now??!?! Oh yeah. Actually finish re-arranging the new craft room, re-open my Etsy shop, keep making YouTube tutorials, and whatever cool stuff life throws my way. At least I can hang out with friends more without a cloud over my head. Elysse and I went to see The Diary of a Teenage Girl, and it was super cool. I hope you guys have a great weekend!!! xo Oh. P.S.!! In case I hadn’t mentioned it, the book is potentially coming out April 2016.  Since I delivered the book late, I’m not sure if the publishing date has been pushed or not, so I will keep you updated as I find out. Don’t worry, though. I have a LOT of fun patterns up my sleeve to tide you over! Am also talking to a certain craft website about shooting a few video tutorials in an actual studio!

My buddy Stewie is a co-founder of International Geek Girls Pen Pal Club, and starting tomorrow, August 13, until Tuesday, August 18, IGGPP will be running its 2nd annual online summer camp! She asked if I would film a how-to-crochet video for camp, and I said sure! But guess what: I have never actually attempted to teach a beginner’s crochet class before, like the actual basics of crochet. So, I have no idea if I’ll do a good job or not, especially while trying to keep the video from being 3 hours long! My video goes live on Saturday, and I’ll be taking over the IGGPPCamp Twitter on Sunday (time TBA) to field some crochet questions from campers! The beginner project we’ll be making is a cozy camp cowl!   It is unfortunately too late now to register for a troop, but everyone can still join in on the activities! Here’s the FAQ page which directs you where to go! Don’t miss out on the fun!! I have a fun sorta-summer-camp themed project I have planned for my own YouTube channel….. I am a mere few days from being done with my book, and then it’s video-tutorial city! (p.s. I wonder what was happening in this screencap…. Tune in on Saturday to find out!)