As you may have noticed, I’ve been having fun recently putting together a couple of Hallowe’en-themed Beasties. And regular readers will already have met this charming Frankenbeastie on Tuesday… but he wasn’t the first seasonal monster I’ve ever made! Over the last couple of days, I’ve been chatting to Ivonne at Aurian’s Blog about Hallowe’en accessories she could give to her own knitted and crocheted creations, and that made me want to look up some of my first ever Autumnal Beasties. Perhaps you’d like to meet them too?
First up (since we’re not quite at Hallowe’en yet) is Autumn Leaves Beastie!
This was one of the last Beasties I made before I moved back to Dublin. As you can see, he’s being helpful and clearing up the fallen leaves from the garden… and his armful of foliage contains maple, oak and ginkgo leaves!
As it happened, Boyfriend was working in a small indie bookshop at the time, which made the perfect backdrop for some more photos…
…On more than one occasion! Skull Beastie really enjoyed looking through these macabre titles…
…And with his mouthful of little pointy teeth, he’s definitely one of my spookier creations!
At around this time, I also made a Beastie with a little felt pumpkin, and I was hoping to share him with you today as well. But, despite combing my monstrous Beastie photo archive, I haven’t been able to track down a single picture of him! I’m sure there’s one out there somewhere – probably stashed away in the memory of a defunct mobile phone – but at least my knitting journal remembers everything! I was able to find my preliminary doodle, and samples of the yarn I used to make him.
So if anybody happens to see a purple and yellow Beastie clutching a Jack o’lantern when they’re out trick-or-treating this year, be sure to take a photo and send it to me!
How about you? Do you like changing up your crafting to reflect the seasons? Let me know in the comments! And we’ll be back on Tuesday with another Famous Monster… see you then!
I love skull beastie in particular. I imagine him reciting Hamlet in the book store. I also think the beastie clutching autumn leaves is charming. I look forward to seeing more of your beastie back catalogue and your seasonal beasties. I hadn’t thought about whether my creative impulses change with the seasons but I wonder if maybe I reach for different colours depending on the season.
Thanks, Laura! And it’s interesting what you say about using different colours depending on the seasons… I find I’ve started doing that more myself! And now that the weather’s getting cooler, you can definitely expect to start seeing Beasties in hats and scarves. Cheers for your comment 😀
The Autumn leaves Beastie is just adorable, a whole flock of them could be put to good use clearing the village green !! When I take Moo trick or treating I’ll keep my eyes open for a Jack o’lantern Beastie LOL
Thank you, Mrs P! Autumn Leaves Beastie has been quite the hit, I’m definitely going to try to make some more of those helpful little guys before the trees are completely bare! Thanks for stopping by, and for looking out for Jack o’lantern Beastie 🎃
Autumn Leaves Beastie will need all the help he can get before Jack Frost Beastie is nipping at his heels 🙂
Now THERE’S an idea! Great suggestion 😀
Thanks so much for the shout-out! 😀
I think all the accessories I’ve seen so far here are adorable and make the beastie in question a piece of art. The more I think about it the more I really want to add more individuality to my own creatures. So far I stuck to embroidery, beads, little bows etc. but I think by adding a real ‘item’ you also add some personality and that little bit of extra oomph. (I hope someone understands what I mean. 😀 )
I get you! And it’s funny, I just stumbled on the idea by accident… But I found that the more accessories I gave the Beasties, the more people started to engage with them. And when I overheard someone point out a Beastie to her friend a couple of years ago and say “hey, doesn’t that look just like…”, I realised I was on to something! I can’t wait to see what you come up with, have fun! 😀
Better not make something too close to someone I know … the feared monster-in-law?! 😀
Hahaha! Careful now 😆 Although I don’t think anyone has been upset when I made them into a monster… So far!
I’m sure everyone would love to be one of your beasties! 😀
Awww, thanks! 😄
Hmmm…can I hire a team of Leaf Beasties to clean up my garden or are they already booked for the season? And now, to get my own self int the Halloween spirit, I’m imagining who Skull Beastie decapitated to get that skull…troll doll? Barbie?
I prefer to think that he just found it somewhere and thought, “this is what I need to complete my look”… Then again, if I was going to choose a victim, it might have to be Barbie. I was very fond of my collection of trolls back in the day. Are you in need of Leaf Beasties over there already? The trees here are only just starting to turn! 🍃
Barbie it is! Yes, I’ve already gotten out the rake thus year. I think our super dry summer gave the trees a shock and started knocking their leaves off earlier than normal.
Ah! No problems like that here… Our trees are probably so well hydrated that they’ll hold onto their foliage until Christmas 😆