First off, let me announce the CAL kick-off giveaway winners
Saunya H, Andrea G., Kiakiali, Laura O, and Kadie are the lucky fans the random number generator selected.

Andrea, Kiakiali, and Kadie–I’ve sent you emails with instructions for claiming your prize. Saunya and Laura–please use the “message” button on our Facebook page to get in touch with me.

Bixi!

How are your monsters coming along?

I decided to make Bixi.

You can download the free pattern from our website here.  You can add it to your Ravelry queue here.

One of the hard parts of starting any new project is selecting colors.

Stacey designed these cute, crocheted amigurumi monsters using Ella Rae Classic Wool yarn. There are 33 new colors of Classic Wool for the fall, which brings the number of available colors to “dizzying”.

I decided to use Ella Rae Superwash Classic yarn for my Bixi, just to show you it could be done.

I narrowed it down to 4 colors.

I narrowed my options down to four colors. From left: #123 – Red Violet, #103 – Parsley, #132 – Oatmeal, and #102 – Claret.

I decided to use Parsley for the body and Rose Violet for the arms.

With that important decision made I was able to get hooking!

Off to a roaring start

Stacey suggests starting with the appendages first. That way when your body is a decent size you can start attaching the arms and ears right away.

This is a very clever idea. When I was designing my own crocheted stuffies when I was younger (in the time before the internet!) I would always make and stuff the body then struggle to sew the arms and legs on.

Sometimes all you need is a little shift in perspective!

As you can see so far I’ve made the eye patch, feet, and one arm. I’ll be finishing the second arm soon and then it’s on to the ears and body.

Bixi is working up very quickly for me. I hope you are having as much fun. Remember you can ask questions here on the blog or over on the Ella Rae Facebook page as you’re working up your own monsters.