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.

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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!