Meet Twinkie Chan!

We are already getting our author lineup and I thought it might be nice to learn more about them. So I would love to introduce you to < href="http://www.twinkiechan.com/" target="_blank">Twinkie Chan!. You may already be familiar with her work or her pictures! She's cute and so is her work. Here's a little interview I did with her.

UCU- Tell us a bit about yourself and your new book!

TC- Hi, there! I live in San Francisco, and I started my business in 2005. I've been crocheting zany doodads since I was little, and I finally combined my love for fake food and DIY into one giant yarn-y mess of food-themed crochet scarf madness! I worked in publishing as a literary agent for about 10 years, and it was very surreal to be on the other side of the publishing coin once I got my own deal for a crochet book!

It's coming out in November by Andrews McMeel Publishing, and it's called "Twinkie Chan's Crochet Goodies for Fashion Foodies: 20 Yummy Treats to Wear." People will get to see the ins and outs of all my funky patterns. Most of the book contains patterns for scarves, but I threw in some patterns for smaller projects as well. I shot all the photos in one night at 4am in my living room, and I drew most of the diagrams (but my friend helped me with the how-to-crochet illustrations because I'm a terrible artist!), so what's in the book is pretty much 99% Twinkie Chan!

UCU- Writing books is a different experience for everyone. How did the process go for you? Any parts you really loved or really didn't love?

TC- Since I'd worked in publishing for so long, I'd seen all the ups AND all the downs of the whole process. I am the type of person who prepares for the worst, but I got really lucky and had a really positive experience. Since I was so familiar with how a book comes to be, I didn't experience many surprises along the way. The only surprise was how DELIGHTFUL it was to work with everyone at Andrews McMeel! My deadline to write the book was a bit tight since I had a lot of other crafty stuff going on at the same time, but I really loved the whole process anyway. It was most fun to see how the publisher was going to lay everything out and turn all my random tidbits into a BOOK.

UCU- Where else are you going on tour with your book?

TC- Right now, I only have a mini West Coast tour planned for November/Decmeber: San Francisco, L.A., Portland, Seattle. I would like to tour the book on the East Coast, too, at some point soon! I am going to try to hit up more craft fairs out of California now that I have the book to sell!

UCU- What's your favorite part of crocheting awesomeness?

TC- I love figuring out a pattern for some object that I've conjured up in my head. It's like a discovering a new wonderful planet! But I get really antsy and repetition really gets to me ... so I'm always on the lookout for the next new project to conquer!

UCU- Top 5 things you are looking forward to seeing in Seattle!

TC-
1) My friends! I actually have quite a few friends living in Seattle now, and I can't believe I haven't really visited there for like 7 years!

2) Is there still a bar there called Cha Cha? I had fun times there!

3) Pike's Place Market. I have been there twice, but never for long enough. My boyfriend "Hairy" and I love food (natch!) so we really like to visit big marketplaces wherever we travel.

4) Seriously, I look forward to visiting Fancy and Schmancy! Schmancy (I believe) had a scarf show back in 06 or 07 and this was the first place I ever shipped my scarves for consignment. I actually hung out with Sally from Fancy with a group of people on one night in maaaybe 2002 before Twinkie Chan ever existed, and I visited her store the next day, so it will be fun to see it again!

5) LEAD ME TO YOUR CUPCAKES.