Tag: Crafts

Beasties in Berlin

Posted on by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie

Explorer Beastie

At last! Explorer Beastie has finally had a chance to venture off this windblown, rain-soaked island on the edge of Europe and see the wider world for the first time! As you can see, I didn’t let him go unprepared – he got a handy guidebook to help him find his way around.

Top of the TV Tower

First stop – a look at the city from the top of the Fernsehturm (TV Tower) in Alexanderplatz!

Fernsehturm

We also had a photo opportunity once we got back on the ground… and then Explorer Beastie made friends with Ampelmann, the “pedestrian crossing guy” unique to eastern Germany.

Ampelmann

And that was just on our first day. Unfortunately, these are the only photos from the trip that survived. I’m not sure whether to lay the blame at the feet of a temperamental memory card or a faulty reader, but somewhere between camera and computer everything was lost and it’s only thanks to my hard-working, tech-savvy boyfriend that I have any pictures at all! Oh well, I suppose we’ll just have to go back…

New Beasties in New Places…

Posted on by crawcraftsbeasties in Info, Knitted Beasties

Sweetheart Beasties

Meet some more of my new arrivals!

I’ve been making these Sweetheart Beasties with a view to reviving my long-dormant Etsy shop in time for Valentine’s Day! If you have a second, why not drop in and pay them a visit?
Beasties on Etsy

Sharing Beasties in more places meant heading out for another photo shoot – this time I chose Iveagh Gardens, one of my favourite Dublin parks. Even though it’s right in the city centre, it’s a little tricky to find, and with its crumbling statues and high walls, it feels like you’ve stumbled into the Secret Garden…

Red Valentine Beastie Red Rose Beastie met a stony-faced lady…

Sweetheart Beastie … While Pink Sweetheart Beastie battled through the miniature maze to reach the sundial at the centre.

I’ve also been busy this week making my own selection of Valentine’s cards. I have to admit that I’ve never been the biggest fan of Valentine’s Day, so I decided to make the kind of cards I’d like to see. Was this a good idea? I’ll let you decide…

Valentine Cards 2

Have a great weekend!

Goth Beastie

Posted on by crawcraftsbeasties in Knitted Beasties

Goth Beastie

Meet the first of my new Beasties – Goth Beastie!

Black hair, black dress, black makeup – and just to add a little colour, a bunch of black roses.  I also had a heap of fun putting an appropriate amount of metalwork in her ears… you can just about see the earrings in this closeup!

Goth Beastie Closeup

My local area provided me with the perfect backdrop for these photos – St Kevin’s Park, which was originally the site of St Kevin’s Church.  The church’s graveyard was cleared in the 1960s, and many of the headstones were moved and propped up against the walls.  The ruined shell of the old church still stands in the middle of the park, making it an incredibly sinister place to enjoy an alfresco lunch, but an ideal hangout for Goth Beastie.

All in a Day’s Work…

Posted on by crawcraftsbeasties in Knitted Beasties

Trucker Beastie 1

This morning I was hunting through my ever-expanding collection of Beastie photos in search of blog post fodder, and I was struck by how much my little monsters have changed over the past year.

When I first started making Beasties, I sent them out into the world with one simple accessory – a book, a guitar, a silly hat. But once I began to get requests from friends and family, I was surprised how quickly they “grew up”. All of a sudden, they started to get jobs! Today I thought I would introduce you to some of these hardworking critters…

Trucker Beastie
Trucker Beastie 2

This Beastie has gone to live in the office of the haulage firm where my dad works. He has a polo shirt in the company colours and a Proof of Delivery docket book, so he should fit right in!

Barrister Beasties

Barrister Beasties 2

A pair of Beasties which were requested as Christmas gifts for two siblings who are both barristers. When I put the finishing touches on my first ever knitted monster, I could never have imagined that I would one day be attempting to design a Beastie-sized barrister’s wig…

Beastie Barristers 2

Nurse Beasties

Nurse Beastie 2

I had two requests for Nurse Beasties – this first one is based on “classic” nurse uniforms…

Nurse Beastie 2

…While this one is modelling a Beastie-sized version of the uniform my friend wears to work every day. Just so everyone knows she is a nurse, I filled her pockets with nurse-y essentials – a pen, a bottle labelled “meds” and a gauze bandage!

Where Ideas Come From

Posted on by crawcraftsbeasties in Knitted Beasties

Cabaret Beastie

Ideas for these monsters can pop up just about anywhere – in films, books or the random awful TV shows which I “watch” while knitting – but I decided to make this Beastie based on a lucky find in a remnants basket somewhere in Dublin city. Remnants baskets, where fabric shops sell the too-short offcuts from the end of a roll of material, are an addiction of mine… I simply cannot pass one without having a poke through to see if there’s anything I can use. I like to tell myself it counts as being thrifty, even though I fully realise that the pieces aren’t discounted, they’re just shorter.

Anyway, about a month ago, I found a bag of assorted trimmings in amongst the other bits of fabric. Since I couldn’t really see inside it, I felt like I was buying one of those Lucky Bags I used to see in newsagents when I was a kid. And I didn’t wait to get it home before I opened it, choosing instead to subject my long-suffering boyfriend to an analysis of the contents when I met him for lunch a few minutes later. Turns out there were lots of useful bits and pieces in there, but I was especially taken with some lengths of netting attached to ribbon and elastic – perfect to make into a skirt for my first very obviously female Beastie! The jaunty mini top hat completes her cheeky cabaret-style costume.

Hallowe’en Beastie

Posted on by crawcraftsbeasties in Uncategorized

IMG_20131017_145345

I’ve always preferred Hallowe’en to Christmas – in my book, nothing beats kicking through piles of autumn leaves, seeing people in fancy dress wandering the streets and finding imaginative ways to cook pumpkins. In keeping with the ghoulishness of the season, my first Hallowe’en themed beastie has a hand-stitched felt skull tucked under his arm.