Twinkie Chan has been cooking up delicious, handmade crocheted scarves for the past several years. Her food-inspired handiwork is now going for upwards $300 a pop on eBay. Is Greater Than chatted with the adorable, crafty maven about her scarves, being a literary agent and a Suicide Girl, and her irresistible half-Shar Pei/half-Basset Hound pup named Bibi.

Quick autobiography — What’s the Twinkie Chan story in a nutshell?
My grandma taught me when I was little and I’ve kept up with it casually over the years. Whenever I needed a present and didn’t have a lot of money, I would make something for someone. So it started out as a go-to gift-giving thing. I didn’t really start selling them until 2005. I just started making scarves for myself and I kept having all these ideas. I knew I was not going to wear everything I was going to make, so I decided to try to sell them — and I guess people like them — so it all works out!

How did food become your central theme? Was this an accident? Or was it like one of those bolt-of-lightning epiphany moments?
I was always kind of a weird kid. I would use my allowance to buy fake food — like plastic hamburgers. As far as the scarves, when I first started crocheting, I used a lot of handspun yarn and it already kind of looked like food to me; like a nubbly yellow yarn would kind of look like scrambled eggs. I would figure out food-shaped patterns. It was kind of a conscious thing to do food. The first couple didn’t look that great. But the more and more I made, I was able to create the food imagery.

What was the first thing you tried?
I think it was a cupcake, but it didn’t quite look like a cupcake! But I thought it was a cute, so I started doing a lot of experimentation.

So when you’re looking for new ideas do you go to the grocery store? Where do you go to get inspiration/ideas?
It kind of comes from everywhere. There are so many possibilities. And there are a gazillion different kinds of food. Recently my friend posted a picture of this baked ham with pineapples all over and I saw that and thought that would be a really good scarf and I made it. I made this huge baked ham with pineapples scarf. Ideas come from everywhere. Random stuff will just pop into my head.

Are you a big foodie?
The thing is, I’m also really cheap. [laughs] So I don’t really want to go out and spend a boatload of money on a really lavish meal. So I appreciate it, but I don’t do it often. Among the people that I know, I’m certainly not the biggest foodie. I’m a big snacker; I’m a big fan of the chips and pretzel aisle.

What have been your favorite scarves?
I think the cupcake scarves are some of my favorites. They’re super cute! I recently started felting some items, which is kind of a long process but makes the yarn turn into a different texture. I started making fanny packs shaped like gingerbread men. I’m going to start making Kleenex box cozies that look like cakes. I’m going to have like a strawberry shortcake and pineapple upside down cake. I’m always excited about the next new thing. When I first made a steak purse that was really exciting!

On eBay, some of your stuff goes for over $100, did you ever expect things to get that high?
No, totally not. When I first put scarves on my website, I priced them at $30-$40 dollars. I really had no idea — I really didn’t expect for bidding to get that high. I’m very grateful and humble. But it’s also very validating. I just never expected it.

What’s the most expensive a piece has gone for?
It’s definitely gone in the high $300s; I don’t think it’s gone over $400. A couple of them have been up there… I know the popcorn scarf went for upwards of $300 and some of the cupcake scarves have gone that high. This one lady in France would always outbid everyone but she kind of disappeared [in recent auctions].

Do you know this French woman?
No! But I’m always hoping she would send photos or something; maybe she just hoards them all. Who knows!

From you success, people have been starting to copy you… what do you think about all of that?
I try not to assume…. I mean we’re all “influenced by the same universe,” but I’ve noticed that some people will remake the same items I’ve made. They kind of keep echoing what I do. Some are an exact copy and some are close but with different stitching. I don’t look for it but random people message me and send me links and stuff. I don’t bother anyone or do anything about it. It just pushes me to keep making new things. I’ll be sad if there’s something mass-produced at Urban Outfitters that looks exactly like [my stuff]. But if it’s just another low-end crafter, I’m not going to stress out about it.

I saw on your FAQ about people asking about where you learn new stitches, are there any web sites or books that you particularly love and can recommend?
I’m really bad about names of books, but as far as websites go, I use crochetpatterncentral.com. It’s a really great go-to. It organizes free patterns online and has really great guides. I use it to see what else is out there as far as different stitches go. They have patterns for things like sweaters…

Are you going to make sweaters?
I’ve never made a sweater before. The thing about scarves is that they’re relatively quick to make and a scarf doesn’t have to fit anyone in particular. A sweater also seems like a long time commitment and I have crafty ADD. I applaud people that can make actual apparel, because it seems hard to me. But yeah, I have no plans to make sweaters. [Note: She did make a dog sweater! See below.]

Also on you FAQ you mention that you can’t sell patterns, but you hope to have a book — has there been any progress on that?
About a year and half ago, a book publisher friend in New York and I started talking and they actually do crafty books. But at the same time I was hooking up with this guy – I’m still working with him actually, it’s just going slow – we were working to make limited editions of my work. He worked with Obey Clothing and he really encouraged me to not make the book yet. He said it would be like giving away trade secrets for free. I don’t know if there’s necessarily crossover for people who pay $300 for scarf versus someone who will make one. But obviously some people are figuring out already how to make them or at least coming pretty close!

How many people do you have on your mailing list?
I work in publishing, so I have a skewed view of what’s a lot; but to me having 2500 people on a mailing list is not a big deal–-but that’s how many I have.

So let’s talk about that — working in publishing?
It’s cool. For a long time, it was the dream job. In school I majored in English and studied creative writing. When I graduated I didn’t have an ego of becoming a great writer. I sort of fell into an internship at a literary agency. It’s basically getting paid to read all day, which is awesome, and I started right after college and never left! A lot of it has to do with taking care of other people’s work and managing their lives and careers. Twinkie Chan was more about me and I didn’t have to worry about other people’s egos. For a day job it is still fun and creative, but you’re more of the middle man… but it’s still a great job! It’s exciting to find a client and see the book turn into an actual thing you hold.

Leland [from Is Greater Than] is actually writing a novel…
Tell him to get in touch!

The way I found out about you is from a Suicide Girl from my hometown; how did you become a Suicide Girl and what has that been like? Have you met other DIY crafters that way?
For the most part, on my website and on my MySpace, I don’t mention it at all. When people buy my stuff, I don’t want it to be because of Suicide Girls. If they bought it because of that, I can’t really do anything about it though. If I had to categorize it, I’d say it’s more of my private life, even though I know there’s like a bagillion members of that site. The way I think of it as another sort of realm of blogging. When I started making scarves, the other girls would say they would totally buy one. There are a lot of girls doing their own thing on that site. I started to hang out with some of them and started to make scarves for them. For me, it was cool that people wanted things that I would make. But again, I don’t really post the Twinkie Chan URL on there. I treat it as a usual blog. For the most part, as general rule, I try to keep everything separate: day job, Twinkie Chan, and Suicide Girls stuff.

So in a completely unsmooth segue, tell us about your dog!
(laughs) She’s weird. I had always wanted to rescue a dog. But always living in apartments and being at the office for most of the week, I thought it would be really unfair to have a pet. I held off on it for a long time. But recently I’ve reduced my hours at the agency and have been spending more time at home crafting. There is this little pet shop in Hayward, an industrial park — it’s word-of-mouth thing — and sometimes I go on these random whims to visit the puppies. One time I went there with my boyfriend, and we saw that dog and I just needed to take her home. It was all horrible timing; I was just about to move. But she fell from the sky and was irresistible and I picked her up the same day I had movers with my stuff. She’s really great and goofy and really wonderful and was really easy to house train. She snorts like a little piggy. I feel a little bad about buying a dog from a pet store instead of a shelter but she’s rad and I love her.

Any tips/advice for aspiring DIY crafters/entrepreneurs?
From my publishing background, the best thing is to market yourself. It’s really great to have a specialty — not only make one item — but just to have a certain style. Have your name associated with a certain thing to help you stand out. Everyone is crocheting and knitting and making jewelry these days so try to make a way to make your stuff special. People may not realize how much work goes into [making crafts and selling them as a business] — it’s basically like taking on a second job. I’m a terrible businesswoman, so I don’t know all the legal stuff, but I do know it is all a lot of work!

What’s next up for Twinkie Chan?
I hope to keep working with my branding and marketing guy [Justin McCormick of The Nicholas James Group] licensing out some things. I really like the fact that I can’t put out a lot of pieces, because it makes them more special. But it would be fun to see if production went beyond just me; to have [my stuff] in boutiques all over. I’m also actually working on a secret hoodie project with my friend. No one has even seen them yet; in fact it’s just got a zipper on it! Baby steps; one thing at a time…

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