Hello Beastie friends! Since the sun was peeking out between the autumn leaves earlier, I thought it might be fun to head out for a seasonal wander… And guess what? A Beastie stowed away in my camera bag! Well, it’s an occupational hazard in this line of business. Hi there, Woolly Jumper Beastie!
Hey, your sweater matches those leaves perfectly!
“Oh yeah! Look at that!”
A little further along, we found some more fallen leaves… In a conveniently Beastie-sized pond.
But not all of nature is packing up in preparation for winter! There’s still a lot of greenery about… We are in Ireland, after all.
Then…
“Come and look at this!”
Although this park next to St Audoen’s Church has recently had a bit of a facelift, some parts of it have obviously been here for a while. There are plenty of places for a mischievous woolly monster to hide in this old ivy-covered wall!
Found you!
Alright, time to get back to the studio! We’re heading to the Dublin Championship Cat Show on Sunday, and we’re going to need to rustle up some more Cat Beasties! But if you’d like to hang out with Woolly Jumper Beastie some more, why not swing by the Beastie HQ store? This little monster is on the lookout for a new home! 😉
Aaaaand we’ll be back next Tuesday – hopefully a little earlier in the day – with a new Beastie for you to meet. See you then!
…But there’s still plenty left for curious Beasties to explore! Let’s join them as they’re taking a breather in the peaceful environs of the arboretum. What great, deep conversations are they having on that elegant stone bench, I wonder?
“Reminds me a bit of the scenes on Endor from Return of the Jedi, this place.”
Or how about a round of hide and seek? There must be millions of good hiding places in here!
“Found you, Paddy! Now it’s my turn to hide.”
“…I’ll be able to see everything!”
It originally graced the entrance of Bamberg Cathedral in Germany, and is 240 years old! It also recently had a facelift, and even the attendant eagles on the pillars got a shiny new coat of gold paint.
“Come on, Plunkett! Nearly there!”
“This had better be worth it… Oh, look at those statues!”
“And what’s that up on the hill?”
And, at journey’s end, they find themselves in a very peculiar place.
It’s the old family pet cemetery! Much less scary than the one in the Stephen King story, this one has memorials to faithful hounds and, if you look at the older headstone on the right, less conventional “pets” like cows get a look-in too.
“Greetings from Powerscourt House, everyone!”
Powerscourt House is in County Wicklow, and it’s only about half an hour south of Dublin. You wouldn’t think it, would you? The house is set in spectacular and varied gardens, and has made Lonely Planet’s list of the 
So, while Plunkett has been enjoying the spectacle of the house, Triton Lake and the Italian Gardens, all set against the backdrop of the Sugar Loaf Mountain, where has Paddy gone? I thought he’d at least be trying to persuade one of those winged horses to take off and give him an aerial view of the grounds… Oh wait, there he is.
… And wait by the stone lantern for Plunkett to catch up!
The Japanese Garden was created in 1908 by the 8th Viscount and Viscountess Powerscourt, making it one of the newer features of the grounds. But funnily enough, the boys stumbled on one of the oldest parts just around the corner – the grotto!
“Paddy, look at all this wonderful moss!”
“Paddy! It’s a Beastie-sized waterfall! I could stay and watch it all day…”
Admittedly, she doesn’t look very detective-y just yet. Let’s get ready for work!
Aha! That’s better. This might also be a good time to admire her lustrous red locks and sweet star print tunic!
I always knew this Beastie would be going to live in Texas, so this sweet fabric was the perfect nod to her new home in the Lone Star State.
A nice frothy felty cappucino is the best way to start the day. Yum!
Rockin’ it! Time to grab your bag and go!
Oh cool, Beastie-sized crochet! Just in case she has any downtime.
Every detective needs her badge! This Beastie-sized version is made of felt, with teeny embroidered details and a magnet inside to hold it in place.
It seems the locals are pleasant, too. We all know about how well 
Then, on the horizon… Look, a lighthouse!
“Look, Paddy! It’s open!”
But alas, Paddy will have to stick to admiring the lighthouse from ground level. The Beasties’ small stature has 
Paddy is planning to take it a step further. He’s pretty sure everyone wants to hear his rendition of “Ode to Joy” blasted out over the sea at 120 decibels.
How could any adventurous Beastie resist a signpost like this one? So many possibilities!
I found Knitter Beastie hanging out among the plants in my studio, on the day I was going to meet one of my long-term knitting students for a goodbye coffee. This student had been a regular at the classes for a while, and we’d worked through some awesome and ambitious projects together. But alas, her time in Dublin was coming to an end, and she was moving home to Germany to continue her studies.
“Reeeeeally? I’ve always wanted to see Germany… And I could probably use a bit of help with this project, too.”
And with that, it was decided. Knitter Beastie hopped into my bag, and pretty much insisted on leaving the country with my student. I hope they’re getting on well… And that Knitter Beastie hasn’t been raiding all the local yarn shops in the hope of whipping up a few woolly monster friends!
This Beastie was requested by a thoughtful mum, who wanted to help her daughter to celebrate a very special birthday in the Beastie-est way possible. I mean, you don’t turn 10 every day, do you?
Done! And we needed to include her favourite colours, too – blue, mint green, white and peach.
Perfect! I even picked up some rose-gold-coloured jewellery findings to better match the warm peachy tones of the bag and its ribbon strap. Here you go, little Beastie lady!
And now I reckon you’d better get going… You wouldn’t want to miss the party, would you?
Looks nice and peaceful, doesn’t it? But just as Plunkett is unwrapping his sandwiches in preparation for a nice quiet lunch in the countryside…
Looks like the boys might have stumbled upon the home of Velocity 2 – the fastest zipline in the world!
Plunkett is happy to pose with the sign, even though he is secretly dreaming of getting back to his picnic. But Paddy is hungry for adventure… And his curiosity leads him deeper into the building.
Later, Paddy rejoins Plunkett at the bottom of the quarry. Plunkett has had a lovely afternoon of munching cheese and pickle sandwiches and watching the humans hurtling down the zipline. And he’s very interested to get a Paddy’s-eye view!
Well, that’s all the proof I need. Well done, Paddy! Although I really don’t know how your next adventure will ever compete with this one…
That’s right, it wouldn’t be a Paddy and Plunkett day out if they weren’t wreaking havoc on a train somewhere… And this time it’s the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway that’s getting the Beastie treatment. Luckily for them, the railway has a monster of its own to keep these two under control – the legendary Welsh Red Dragon!
Nope, definitely not.
Fortunately, Plunkett has got some sense into his woolly head – juuuuuust in time, by the looks of things!
I tried to ID Paddy and Plunkett’s train, but I didn’t get too far… Are there any locals out there who can help?
“This Gelert must have been a pretty important person!” says Paddy.
Hanging out with all those owlets certainly put a smile back on Paddy’s woolly face.
“Plunkett! PLUNKETT! Can you see the keys for these anywhere? I think I’d like to take one of them for a spin!”
This Beastie girl was created as a very special birthday gift… And as you might have guessed from the title and subsequent puns, copying her human counterpart’s supercool hairdo was a really big part of this project! Let’s take a closer look at that colourful barnet, shall we?
And of course, the hood can be worn up or down. There are even holes for her ears to poke through!
And… Wait a sec, don’t go!
These little scamps are Beastie pugaliers – just like the full-size ones that her new human friend has at home!
… And Beastie Sanjay!
How about you? Have you tackled something new recently? If you have, tell us all about it in the comments!