Legos, Legos everywhere!

It's Work-in-Progress Wednesday, and you want to know what I'm working on?

Team projects.

I'm working on team projects. 

See that picture? Those are Legos. I spent three hours last night looking for one specific piece I needed to complete the piles for the team project.

The phrase should really be changed from "finding a needle in a haystack" to "finding that one specific Lego in an 18-gallon tub"! 

And this picture was taken AFTER I had done a lot of sorting, so that isn't even all the Legos. 

Still haven't found that piece yet. That's what makes it a WIP, right?






I also have a few crochet projects going on. Last night at Joann's, I found a skein of one of Red Heart's newest Super Saver colourways: Blacklight. I had to pick it up, and it's going to become a giant monster! 

However, there's also a new bag I'm working on. It needs to be lined with fabric and have handles attached. 

It should be a cute summer bag, though, once completed! 

What are you working on this week? 

Check out Tami's blog for more WIP Wednesday posts!

"A" Monsters

The last few days have been a marathon of crocheting! I find that when there's a pattern I really like, I keep making that one item until I'm tired of it. Not always true, but it happens often!

Most recently, that pattern is Roosevelt the Monster. 

As part of the 3rd installment of the Kit Club, I was able to make these two cuties: 

The yarn is "Shepherd's Wool Crazy" and it's pretty awesome! The yellow is brilliant, and the brown is a good compliment, especially on the monster on the right. There's enough of the skein leftover to make a few mini-monsters which I think I'll turn into keychains... Hmm...

However, I decided I wanted to make a bright-coloured, normal-sized Roosevelt in dedication of Ainsley. Ainsley is a four-year-old very close to my heart who has been recently diagnosed with leukemia. To read more about Ainsley's story, please visit their blog:

http://thegluethatholdsus.blogspot.com/

I'm a big fan of these cutie little monsters! They're a quick project, but oh so much fun!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Blue Ribbon!

After my not-so-great experience at the State Fair last year, I was hesitant to sign up for any more competitions. However, I decided the County Fair should be given a fair chance.

It turns out, I had a much better experience overall! The staff was much nicer this time around, and they treated items respectfully instead of squishing them into deformed blobs. 

As expected, the County Fair is much smaller than the State Fair. Thus, it was a much more pleasant environment. 

This is how I fared at the fair: 

Two Blue Ribbons (First Prize!) and two Red Ribbons (Second!). 

There were some incredible entries across all of the crafts-- quilts, embroidery, pottery. 

This experience was much better-- my amigurumi look like amigurumi still, they're displayed much nicer, and the staff was much friendlier. 

I'm still debating whether or not I'll do the State Fair again. We shall see! 

Inspiration!

I was hit with a fact over the weekend-- the absolute best place for amigurumi inspiration is the zoo!!

Seeing animals in-person made me want to make their crocheted counterparts as soon as possible!

Here are some pictures from my trip to the Phoenix Zoo:

Baby Komodo Dragon

There were plenty more animals, but these are in my favourites. The baby Komodo Dragon was just born recently, and will grow to be something like 8 - 10 feet in length! 

It was good times, and fun animals. :) Now to make them crocheted...!

Scrap-a-long Scrapbook

I mentioned in an earlier post that Stacey Trock (FreshStitches) is hosting a Scrap-a-long. Scrap projects are not really something I lean towards, but in the spirit of really wanting to participate, I grabbed my scraps and got ready!

So far, I've finished 2/3 projects I intend to make and I've realized a beautiful fact. These scrap pieces are not just some random pieces of yarn; they are remnants of previous projects.

It's pretty common for projects I make to leave my possession. They're often gifted, donated, sold, etc. etc. Thus, all I usually have to remember them are the pictures on my Ravelry project page. 

However, making these scrap projects was like looking through a scrapbook! I remembered using this yarn to make a scarf, or that yarn to make a teddy bear. It was so much fun seeing it all put together! Now, these stuffed animals will be carried with me as reminders of those projects. 

I added words onto the pictures of my finished projects to show where those pieces of yarn came from-- and these are only the ones I remembered off the top of my head!

I can say with confidence that scrap projects are going to be an annual thing for me, or however often as needed to maintain a decent "scrap pile". I love these projects, and I love how fun they look!

Thank you, Stacey, for hosting such a fun idea for a crochet-along. 

And if anyone wants a scrapbook idea for their crochet projects-- make a stuffed animal with them! Trust me, it's a lot more fun than attempting to glue yarn to paper :)