My seventh grade has been one of my favorites. I’ve had lots of friends, fun classes, and fun field trips. These are my three favorite memory’s of seventh grade, not in order, by the way. For our middle school choir, after we finished a big performance, our choir teacher gifted us a trip to Knotts. It was so much fun and exciting, me and my friends had such a fun time. Half of us stayed on the slow rides, and the other half, including me, went on all the big rides. I had lots of sugar, and lots of fun. I also really loved my %20 Project. As much as I dread presenting it, I had fun being able to crochet. I crocheted with my two friends, and one of those friends mom was our mentor. We made some cool stuff and it was amazing. I got to hang out at my friend’s house every Thursday for five weeks. I ended up crocheting lots of stuffed animals, like an elephant, dog, mouse, platypus, two turtles, a jellyfish, a duck, and a bee. The last three I crocheted without a pattern! My last favorite memory is also in core. We got to draw a person from the medieval times. Me and my friend drew a Japanese empress and made her look really nice. It was really fun to draw Himari, that was the name of the empress we drew, and give her details. Through struggles and accomplishments, we finished drawing her just in time. Seventh grade has been so much fun. And I can’t wait for eighth.

This week for my %20 project I accomplished working on my trifold! I’m thinking my trifold is looking really cute so far. I wrote the name, added a border, and wrote down some things, I wrote down the abbreviations, by the way. For example, Sc means single crochet, HDC means half double crochet. I also tried way too hard to make it perfect. I struggled that with a small chair, it made it difficult to keep the trifold straight. I also couldn’t do anything big, because I spent lots of time on the border, name, and writing, I couldn’t do my main idea. Next time, I’m going to use my time better and get a better table. Those are also my adjustments. Hopefully I will finish soon! As much as I’m excited for the %20 project night, I’m really terrified. A few more days until I present! Wish me luck!

This week, while crocheting, I wasn’t in class. I was on a trip and decided to do crocheting while on my plane, and in my free time there. This week I accomplished a few things. I made a jelly fish, making my own pattern, not using any! And I’m so proud of that! I also used half of a pattern for a duck, then made my own for the rest of the body. So proud of that too. I struggled by not having any time. It’s not my fault, but I crocheted when I could and it was difficult to find time. Also on the plane, it was difficult to crochet, not being able to get more yarn when I need it, my ears being plugged, and no room. I don’t have any adjustments for this week. Next time I do not know what to do. I will probably either start or continue a amigurumi.

I love my mom so so so so so so so much! She is an amazing influence in my life and makes it much better. She does so much for me, she makes my lunch, she helps me when I’m sad, she cheers me on at my swim meets, she buys me what I need, and she gives me so much love. I am very close to my mom, and I love coming into her and my dad’s room just to talk to her. Even on her birthday, which was a week or two ago, she decided what to do depending on if we wanted to or not. We ended up going to this fun maze and getting dole whip afterwards. She’s so helpful with my homework, especially math. Whenever I have an issue she figures it out and teaches me how to do it with an easy explanation. She cares about us so much. With four girls, a husband, and a dog to take care of, she does it so well. She makes out lunches, packs our bags, then drives us to and from school. She makes us lots of family dinners, and her cooking is so good. She makes on of my favorite meals, white rice, beef, and broccoli. She also always takes our dog on his walks everyday and feeds him. My mom is also always right. I don’t know how, but she never has the wrong answer. She says I should bring a jacket to school, and I decide not to because it going to be hot, but it ends up being freezing in one of my classes. When I get home I remember to tell her that. I love my mom. And she loves me, my older sister, my other older sister, my younger sister, my dad, and of course, our dog. I can’t wait until Mother’s Day, so I can get her a big gift, for all the times I’ve a) forgotten to get her one for her birthdays, and Mother’s Day, well, I don’t forget but it’s hard when I can’t drive. And b) to show her how much she means to me. I tell my mom I love her everyday, when I leave to school, when I hang up with her on my phone, when I go bed, and whenever I won’t see her for a while. I even just tell her I love her out of the ordinary. I love my dad a lot too, but this is my moms time. Her time to be shown how much we all appreciate her, and love her.

Insurgent

Veronica Roth

This month I read a book called Insurgent. And to be honest it’s not one of my favorite books. It’s about a girl named Tris, who completely shatters the reality of the world she lives in. Everywhere she goes, she causes trouble for the people who help her, because Tris is wanted. Finally because Tris doesn’t want anyone to die anymore, she turns herself in. She is experimented on and is about to be killed. When her enemy saves her. They then run around finding a place to stay, and the loyal dauntless and the factionless let them stay. The dauntless and factionless are about to raid the erudite headquarters, and kill their leader, but the erudite have important information they need. So Tris, and a few friends, raid the erudite, but not to destroy the information, but to steal it.

I didn’t really like this book. So there’s not much to go off of for my “favorite part.” Although I do like how it’s action packed and thrilling. Calmer books aren’t my favorite. So if you personally don’t like action packed books, I wouldn’t recommend this.

My favorite character is Evelyn, Tobias’ mom. Evelyn is an absolute girl boss and will do what she can to have the power. She rules over the factionless and takes care of business. Although she is kind of evil, but it’s kind of a good reason, by taking over the entire city… she is a very good character before that. My favorite quote from her is on page 520. It states, “I have not been starving for more than a decade…” this isn’t much of a quote, but it shows that she is taking over because she wants her factionless community to finally be treated better, just because they don’t fit into a faction doesn’t mean they should be treated worse. So she’s finally making their life better.

My favorite quote is page 446. It context, it’s when Johanna is leaving amity because she wants to help stop the war. The amity are out of it, because they don’t like conflict, and this is what Johanna says, “But please know that if I have to leave you, I leave you with love, rather than malice.” This shows that Johanna is leaving for the greater good. That she is not mad at the people who didn’t come to help.

This week for my 20% Project I started making a platypus. At home I finished my elephant, made another elephant that looks for like a mouse, and a dog. This week I started making my platypus, as I said earlier. My platypus has its head finished so far, has its two eyes, and that it. No legs, no tail, no mouth, nothing. But he will be completed at home! My struggles is that this platypus takes a little bit longer than the others. And my longer much longer. I had to do four rounds of thirty, then six round of thirty six! I’ve finished the six in every row, meaning I’ve done thirty six, and I have one-hundred eighty more single crochets left. This is going to take a long time, emphasis on long. I don’t have adjustments, just to go faster and remember my stitches. Next time I’ll hopefully be finished with my platypus and I will start a new stuffed animal.

My favorite room is easily my bedroom. I share my bedroom with my little sister Beverly, and she’s a bit messy. Unlike her I like to keep clean, but when her stuff starts piling up on the floor, I can’t help but join in. Within a couple says you can barely even see the floor! It’s been cleaner lately though, because my parents got a new table, which me and my little sister has claimed as the craft table. Beverly usually does whatever crafts she find on YouTube. She once made some beads out of paper, glue, and some nail polish finish. I usually sew and crochet on the table. But my room is a room of many uses. I use it to read, because it’s mostly quiet in there if I turn on the fan, music machine, and close the door. My family is full of readers. In my room there’s a big bookshelf full of books. There’s one bookshelf dedicated to Harry Potter and Mo Williams, another dedicated to yearbooks, one for Jane Austen and Nancy Drew, and one for all my Keeper of the Lost Cities books. There’s also another one for children’s books we used to read, one up high and the other way down low, and two for me and little sister to put our stuff. There’s also a bookshelf in our living room full of random sorts of books, and one in my older siblings room recently made and is already filled to the brim. Me and my little sister just got rid of at least fifty books and we still don’t have enough room. But anyways, I’m on the bottom bunk and my little sisters on the top. My bed is nice in clean, with my weighted blanket on the bottom, and my quilt my nana made for me on the top. I also have a heart blanket used as decoration. I have a few stuffed animals with important purposes behind them. Then I have two pillows, one that’s used so my things don’t fall in between the bed and the wall, and one with a silk pillowcase I got from china. I have nightstand that I recently cleaned, but it’s already dirty, with yarn scraps all over it and my fake plant, light box thing that I never use, alarm clock, and organizer. I have a bottom drawer used for some clothes, and the top is for some of my random things. I also have a box I added underneath to have even more room, but it’s full of keepsakes. My little sisters bed is a mess. Over fifty stuffed animals, three blankets, and two pillows. And she wonders why she can never sleep. Our room doesn’t have a carpet or a rug, just wood, it’s not very comfy. We have a cabinet full of old childhood toys my mom can’t bring herself to throw away, and a big dresser. The top two are for me, the bottom two for my little sister. On top of everything is a little area to store things. It’s for my me and Bevy’s (my little sisters nickname) jewelry, and for bevy’s shells, rocks, and other things the annoy the life out of me. On the walls are some church things. My family LDS, so we have some of that kind of things all over the house, we have a little area decorated for it. It has some scriptures, a “I am a child of god” type thing, and a painting I picked out and that I love, a picture of Jesus taking care of his sheep. We also have a shelf that’s use for put color me mine creations, and a little glass bear with a play block in its hands. There’s also a BYU soccer poster, and a panda picture that I really hate. It’s Beverly’s, of course. My third reason I love my room is because it’s fun to hang out with my friends in. I pull down my sisters giant axolotl squishmallow and slay on that, while my friend sits on my bed. We can open up the window and close the door and it’s so much fun! I love hanging out with my friends in there.

This week I begun the body for my crochet elephant, and I’ve got to say, it’s doing pretty dang good. You can easily define the trunk and with the white yarn and the pink I’ll soon add I’m really liking it. My accomplishments are that I am now easily able to read crochet patterns, and follow along the rounds. I finished nine rounds today, and I will be working on ten and more next week. Next week I’ll also attempt the ears, hopefully I don’t fail again! I will also have to buy some safety eyes for this project. My struggles were that I attempted a duck, but I couldn’t do good with that. It was a video and I have learned I’m better at reading than watching. Going at my own speed is better for me. My adjustments are to make my crocheting a little looser, not as tight. And to also just continue with my elephant. Over the weekend I’ll work on this, but next week I’ll just continue with the elephant if I haven’t finished, but if I do I’ll work on a pink dinosaur.

This is a part two for my previous free write titled “Elephant.”

Here I am in Hawaii

On the island known as Kauai.

I sit on the beach with sun hitting my face

Forgetting about the Elephant and its disgrace

I still remember that day

But now that doesn’t matter with the sun rays

I look over to the side expecting my mom

but instead I see this bomb!

I see a note signed though,

and believe it or not, its signed by Joe.

it writes, “I know what you think of me,

and this gives me no glee,

but I’m required to blow you up,

and here I am safe, behind this shrub.”

This I am worried about

all I can do is scream and shout.

For I am frozen in place

and in between me an the bomb is two feet of space.

I decide to duck and cover

hopefully it will give my mind time to recover

what I should do with me and this bomb,

but then here comes my mom!

she dives and grabs my hand,

and drags me out of the beachy land.

My moms hugs me nice and tight,

While the sun is coming down to bring the night.

the bomb explodes sending sand everywhere,

It gets all in me and my mothers hair.

My dad walks over and hugs us both,

giving us his oath,

“I will be here text time,

and will now stand there dumb like a mime,

because you could have died,

Because I didn’t plan my time.

the bomb nearly blew up,

but here you are, safe and sound,

with all this sand on the asphalt ground.

Hello! I’m Phoebe and welcome to my crocheting blog. For the 20%project I’m doing crocheting, I’m using my friend’s mom as my mentor, and it has been going very well so far. This week I accomplished a few things. I learned how to make a successful magic circle, which is used when making an amigurumi, or a crocheted stuffed animal. I’m working on an elephant for my first amigurumi. I also made an ear for it, but it failed pretty badly, so I’m going to redo it. My struggles were huge. First, it was way too difficult to make a magic circle, and took me a while, but I finally did finish making it. I also accidentally did the wrong stitch, I tried redoing it but failed, so I completely restarted. Next, I didn’t know how to do the decrease stitch. I think I’ve figured it out, but it doesn’t look good… Then somehow the ear got ruined. It look more like a half circle than an ear! For my adjustments I’m now using stitch markers, they’re used so I know when a beginning of a round is and it will make it easier. I’ll also double check what round I’m on, because one of my mistakes I accidentally used the body on the ear, making me restart. Next time I will be restarting the ear, and making the second ear.