Journey through my first crochet-a-long

All of this, for an adorkable little penguin. :)

Introduction
Several weeks ago now, I stumbled upon the beginning of an amigurumi crochet-a-long on allfreecrochet.com. I have always wanted to do one, but never caught one at the right time, so I figured now that I have a little bit more time on my hands, I could try it.

Link to the original crochet-a-long

Week 1 

The first week I missed, but it was just buying yarn - so the second week I went out and bought all the yarn (bizarre color choices, in my opinion) and started working the initial pattern.

Week 2  - "main part of the pattern"

Body with eyes attached

Not bad. Obviously a head and body. The pattern called for safety eyes, but I hate safety eyes. I typically crochet my own eyes using thread and then attach them. Because I was lazy, these are attached with hot-glue. 

Week 3  - "accent piece"

Add caption

I initially thought that this was going to be a cape or a bib or some sort.

Accent piece

Accent piece and body

Again, nothing difficult with this part of the pattern. I was finding it a bit frustrating that I couldn't go on an assemble the parts together at this point.

Week 4 - "limbs"

This week messed me up. I kept misreading the pattern and I kept skipping rounds. It was extremely frustrating, but it was me, not the pattern itself.

The "limbs"

Everything so far

Still annoyed that I can't put it together yet. Also, the limbs look like penises.

Week 5 - "accessories"

This was the week where I was like "ok, I give up. I have no idea what I am making." Before this week I was thinking some sort of seal or something. 

Hat and scarf

My best guess for assembly. (Hint: I was wrong)

The scarf was quick and easy. The hat wasn't so bad, but I don't like the tassels. They don't stand up correctly so they just look...off.

Week 6 - "final pieces and assembly"

ASSEMBLY! FINALLY! I CAN STOP KEEPING ALL OF THIS CRAP IN A PLASTIC BAG. 

After assembling it, there was literally no reason I couldn't have started assembling and attaching weeks ago. I was so afraid I was going to lose parts and have to start over.

However, this reveal was kind of worth it. I actually like how it turned out. I just wish I had used maybe blue instead of pink and red. 

Penguin!!!

Thoughts/Review

I actually really like this little guy, except for the hat. I attached most of the parts with hot glue to tack in in place, mostly because I am horrific at sewing things on straight, and I ran out of time and patience. 

I think if I replaced the pink with a baby blue and the red with a darker blue, I would like him much better - but I'm not a big fan of pink anyway. However, I suppose he would look a little less "holiday" with that color scheme, which is what they were going for, I think.

So now I'm searching for my next mystery crochet-a-long. :)