Scared to submit an IT ticket? Have no fear! Remind yourself that there’s an Amigurumi craftswoman on the receiving end. Read below for a cuteness overload on how Randa Lee stays busy with Japanese art.
What do you do at Lewis and what does a typical day look like?
Randa: I am currently a Support Technician in the IT department. My tasks involve assigning service desk tickets, working on IT projects, supporting Bottomline, user provisioning (setting up new hires, processing terminations, etc…), managing signing of IT contracts, paying invoices, and more. Depending on the day of the week I have more time devoted to one task over the other, for example Fridays are usually spent setting up new hires for the following week.
What has your career path looked like?
Randa: When I started at Lewis back in November of 2012, I was a Scanning Technician. This involved scanning documents and reviewing other scans for accuracy. I was a member of this team for about 6 years. In January of 2019 I was transferred over to the IT team as a Technical Assistant. At that time, I was doing toner ordering, basic computer assistance, and working on a large communications project. After about a year I was promoted to a Support Technician.
How do you stay busy outside of the office?
Randa: Some of my favorite things to do outside of work are escape rooms, Top Golf, going to the Renaissance Faire, and cooking. One of the things I started doing in the last few years is crocheting Amigurumi. Amigurumi is the Japanese craft of crocheting small stuffed toys, such as animals, play food, or dolls.
How did you get started with Amigurumi?
Randa: Back in 2018 I was getting headaches from having a lot of screen time. I would go from being on the computer at work to being on my phone at home or watching the TV. I wanted a hobby that didn’t involve a screen. At that time, I signed up for a free trial of Craftsy and took a few courses on crocheting. After making a few hats and small things I found a post of someone who made a Totoro Amigurumi and posted a pattern of how to make it. I tried this pattern and was immediately hooked. When I completed their pattern, I started making things on my own and creating my own patterns. When I posted what I had made I started getting requests from friends on making things for them. I now take custom orders and sell some of my patterns on Etsy. I can be found on Instagram or TikTok as CraftingPandaCo.
Any favorite moments with Amigurumi?
Randa: One of my favorite things about this has been being able to create characters for people that they can’t find in normal stores. One of my customers has ordered 13 different characters from the same movie for her autistic sister because they were from an obscure movie that doesn’t have a lot of toys available for purchase. It touched my heart to know how important these were to her, and she sent me a picture of a display case that they made for her sister with all of them in it.
Biggest challenges with Amigurumi?
Randa: The hardest part for making Amigurumi is figuring out how to make the finished product look like the character. Some details must be removed in order to make it possible to crochet, so figuring out what you need to capture for the essence of the finished product can be tricky especially when dealing with more complicated characters. Another thing that can be difficult is how many pieces you need to make the finished product. Stitch for example is an easier one with only 12 pieces to assemble. Minnie mouse was about 27 pieces.
Check out @CraftingPandaCo to see more of Randa’s impressive pieces or even order a customized critter.
Rosie Lewis is the Corporate Marketing Manager at The Lewis Group of Companies. Rosie is a Claremont native who enjoys hiking, yoga, and developing her green thumb.