Adventures in Crochet: Lalylala's Beetles, Bugs, and Butterflies: Part 1a (Ayame's Graduation Trinket: Tentou Mushi (天道虫))

Back in the day when I graduated high school (eons and eons ago), one of Hubby's aunts had given me a super cute mini stuffed animals that could clip onto my gown and/or lei. It was utterly adorable. 🥰💕😍

Now that Hubby's niece is going to be graduating next year (I know, I know ... it's next year?! but .. I need to do this in advance because who knows how long this might actually take me! 😳😱😔 especially since I have a very rudimentary concept of crochet and I still haven't finished the original insect I started two (2!!!) years ago!), I wanted to give her something similar to attach to the lei I'm also making for her. So, since I had purchased Lalylala's Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies and it had so many cute creatures in it, I decided that I would make her the Tentou Mushi (天道虫) (aka the ladybug) (plus it's in her high school's colours - win-win!🙌🎉🎊👍🥳). Here's how it went:

First, I had to make the head and as such, had to (re-)learn how to start crocheting with a magic loop. Once I overcame that, it was quick to finish the head. I did realize that I needed to make sure I had a starting/ending marker otherwise, I would mindlessly go round and round and round, never quite knowing where I started or needed to end.😳🤷‍♀️😱😔🤦‍♀️

Next up was the transition to the body. Here's where I struggled a bit (Remember! I'm not very crochet literate nor am able to fully understand what I'm exactly doing!😳🤷‍♀️😱😔🤦‍♀️). At this stage in my crochet adventure, I was just happy that I could just get the exact/same number of stitches required in the pattern so far!😳😱😔 So, I spent a few hours on Ravelry trying to figure out how to post something in the forum for this pattern (then finally posting a forum question); then spent a few more hours on Google to figure out what these two (2) mysterious instructions (that stumped me) meant, how to do it and why one would provide instructions like this. I finally figured it out as well as received a response on my forum.🥰🎉🎊👍🥳 So, I was able to complete most of the body (since I haven't purchased any eyes for this yet, I had to stop the body at the last two (2) rows so that I could insert the safety eyes and stuff it before actually finishing it off).🙌🎉🎊👍🥳

In the meantime, I've been agonizing over what types of eyes to purchase.😳😱😔🤦‍♀️ Initially, I was thinking about getting glass eyes but found that they are incredibly expensive; so, I started to cave and consider getting plastic safety eyes and fell into a whole 'nother rabbit hole there!😳😱😔 (I wanted to stay away from plastic and I'm trying to avoid purchasing things directly from the "evil horseman" (aka Amazon); plus I had no idea what safety eyes entailed nor how to use them!😳😱😭🤦‍♀️😔 So there was a huge learning curve to get over and I haven't actually used them yet!😳😱🤦‍♀️😔) After spending weeks!! (yes, you read that right - weeks!!) mulling (and agonizing) over this, I finally was able to narrow down my search for these dang safety eyes. It was a good thing that I finished the head and body so that I could confirm if I really wanted to get 5mm eyes (as suggested in the pattern) or some other sized eyes. After going through my test eyes (remember all that yarn I bought in June 2022 then the positionable eyes in August 2022? - it's finally paying off!🥰🎉🎊👍🥳 I'm using them!!👍🥳), I realized that the recommended eye size seemed a bit too small and that 6mm eyes would fit better. However, as I was trying to determine how many pairs of eyes to get, I realized that there are two (2) other insects in the book that may or may not fit these eyes (they seemed smaller) so, I decided to put a pause on this project to work on them first so that I can make sure how many pairs of eyes (and what sizes) I really need (the price point and cost to ship them to me is ridiculous!).😳😱😔

In the meantime, I did finish the hat.🎉🎊👍🥳 But, after putting it on the head, it seems abnormally large. Since I can't really stuff the head yet (pending those dang eyes😳😱😔🤦‍♀️), I also can't finish the hat to add antennae (or determine if I need to rip it out and redo it on a smaller hook size). So, now, everything's on hold until I can really figure out what sized eyes I really need and how many of them I need to get (due to pricing and shipping costs, it's much more efficient if I just get every pair of eyes I need up front rather than buy just one pair at a time or as needed 😔.)
Here's what I have so far:

Now, all I have to do is determine how many eyes to get and where to get them from!🤔