CrawCrafts – Page 24

Explorer Beastie in Copenhagen - CrawCrafts Beasties

Beastie on Tour!

Posted on March 28, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie

Things have been a little quiet on the exploring front these last couple of years. Between one thing and another, Explorer Beastie and I haven’t managed to get further afield than Donegal in a long time! But all that changed last week…
Look! We’re on a plane! And that’s a pretty good indicator that we’re leaving the island… But where are we off to?
Well, this is a good start – a nice bit on sunshine on our first morning! Time for a quick stroll around this lake, I think.
Beautiful! Now maybe we could try getting a bird’s eye view of this city, so that the good folks watching at home can see where we are…
Aha! So, we have spires, verdigris…
… And in the distance, the bridge to Sweden. Welcome to… COPENHAGEN!
One of our first ports of call here was the Rundetaarn (Round Tower), which gave us these great views out over the city, and helped us to plan our wandering for the day. This tower was built by King Christian IV in 1642 as an observatory (it’s actually the oldest functioning observatory in Europe) and it is also Denmark’s “zero point” – when the country was first surveyed by Thomas Bugge in the late 1760s, he took the Rundetaarn as the starting point for all his calculations of distance throughout the kingdom. And there’s more to the tower than the viewing platform at the top. You can see this working model of the solar system on the wall as you come back down…
… And that (unfortunately hazy – it was dark!) picture in the bottom right is the tower’s hollow core, where you can stare 25m straight down through the plate glass floor. As you can see, Explorer Beastie wasn’t fazed by this at all, but the most I could manage was placing one foot on the glass while the other remained firmly planted on the stones at the edge! Although it turns out that I really needn’t have worried – in 1880, a choirboy tumbled out of a toolroom at the top of the core and fell the full distance to the bottom, where he remained trapped for the better part of a day before being discovered, alive, with nothing more than a scrape on his arm and a few missing teeth!

Copenhagen’s skyline is packed with beautiful tall spires, but one particularly caught our eyes from the top of the Rundetaarn. So when we found ourselves back at street level, we made a Beastline right for it!
This is Børsen, the old Danish Stock Exchange. If you look closely, you’ll see that the tower has four dragons at its base, and their intertwined tails form the 50m tall spire. Beast-tastic!

And, although this was our favourite, there were plenty of other elaborate buildings to distract us as we wandered through the city streets.
We also found some monuments on a more Beastie-sized scale. Well, we could hardly visit Denmark and not set foot inside a Lego store, could we?
And after a long day’s meandering, our weary paws brought us to one of the most iconic parts of the city – the tall, colourful townhouses at Nyhavn! Of course, I couldn’t resist taking one more photo before it got dark…
Perfect!

You can see more of our Nordic adventures next week – but what do you think of Copenhagen so far? Have you ever been, or is it on your travel-to-do list? Let us know in the comments!

Galway All The Way!

Posted on March 21, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family, Commissions, Knitted Beasties

It’s beautiful here in Dublin today – the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and it’s only a little bit breezy. Perfect for sports, if that’s your thing… And it certainly is for today’s new Beastie!
Meet Galway Hurling Beastie!

Hurling is one of Ireland’s traditional sports, and if I were to describe it (from a completely non-expert point of view) I’d say it’s like someone blended hockey and tennis. It’s played with a wooden stick (the hurley, usually made from ash wood) and a little hard ball (the sliotar), so there’s your hockey connection. But unlike hockey, the ball is allowed to leave the ground… in fact, I’m pretty sure it spends most of the match in the air! It’s frequently thrown and then smashed down to the other end of the pitch, as in a tennis serve, or carried egg-and-spoon style on the end of the hurley, while the player runs with it. Skillful, right?

I’ve paid monster tribute to this sport before – you can meet that first Hurling Beastie in this post from 2015 – but this latest project called for a more personal touch. First of all, let’s show where his loyalties lie, with a hand-stitched shirt in his county colours!
Galway is one of the top hurling counties in Ireland – they’re currently ranked third after the 2016 Championship – and their maroon-coloured strip is one that even a layman like myself can pick out of a lineup! I also made sure to emblazon this miniature version with the county crest, and the logo of their main sponsor.

And on the back, a little bit of extra customisation to help him fit in with his new family!
Next, how about some nice red hair? Well, he is an Irish Beastie, after all!
He’s also the first Beastie to have brown eyes (look closely), and I’ve given him glasses modelled on the ones his new friend wears!
And of course, to complete his kit, he gets his own Beastie-sized hurley and sliotar!
Anyone fancy a knock-about in the park? Or are there any other sporting Beasties you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments!

Aaaaand next Tuesday, I should have a fresh new Explorer Beastie adventure for you all… So stay tuned! See you then!

Paddy and Plunkett have a Picnic - H Crawford/CrawCrafts Beasties

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Posted on March 17, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Flashback Friday, Knitted Beasties

Everyone’s Irish today… Or so I hear! And I thought this might be a nice excuse to revisit some of my favourite Barróg Beastie* pics from the past year. But, for a little bit of Paddy’s Day fun, it’s up to you to decide who is the most Irish Irish Beastie of them all – let me know in the comments!

*For those of you who are new to Beastie-spotting, a Barróg Beastie is one knitted from 100% Irish wool. They can be identified by their slightly smaller stature, and more typically Irish accessories! Oh, and that word “barróg”? That’s Irish for “hug”!
Fry-Up Beastie can’t wait to tuck into his full Irish breakfast. I’m not surprised – YUM!

Sláinte! Toast this most festive of days with Red Ale Beastie – I’ll drink to that!

Enjoy the sunny spring weather with Redhead Beastie…

… Or relax with a good book, like Finn McSpool here!

And if you just can’t decide, your last option is a two-for-one deal… Adventurous duo Paddy and Plunkett!
Wherever you are, however you’re celebrating, have a very happy St Patrick’s Day! Cheers!

A Sweet Sweetheart Beastie - CrawCrafts Beasties

Enough Beastie Love to go Around…

Posted on March 14, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Commissions, Info, Knitted Beasties, Life at Beastie Towers

Well hello there! And WOW, for some reason it feels like ages since my last post – there’s been a lot happening this past week. I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

But first, I think I promised you a new Beastie – although some of you might recognise this little guy from the post I did a couple of weeks ago about my new Beastie-sized photo studio!
Let’s take a look at how those pictures turned out, shall we?
Ooooh, look at that! Cerise and blue, side by side, with neither colour flaring or getting washed out – teeny photographic studio, I salute you!

As for the Beastie, he’s a Sweetheart Beastie… One of the mainstays of my monster crew for every market I go to. Hearts speak to everybody*, and a soft, squishy felt one stitches up nice and quickly. This particular one was made to order for a customer I met at the Dublin Christmas Flea, who wanted a friend to keep her niece company while she’s in hospital. Hopefully his big toothy smile will help keep her spirits up…
… And he’s so proud of his oversized cuddly heart!
I also couldn’t resist kitting him out with a funny little bobble hat! Very stylish.
This Beastie had quite a way to go as well – as soon as he was ready, he left Beastie Towers and headed Down Under. But he’s bringing a flavour of this side of the globe with him… Since half of the family originally hail from Huddersfield in the UK, he’s proudly sporting the local football team’s colours!
I hope he’s settling in well in his new home!

*Well, almost everybody. At a Christmas market a few years ago, a boy marched up to my stall and told me that he really liked the handsome black and red Sweetheart Beastie I’d brought along. “Apart from that,” he said, indicating the heart, and pulling the most disdainful face I’ve ever seen.

And now for my other big news – I’m in a magazine!
I first found out about Caboodle, an independent magazine from the UK that publishes twice yearly, through the blog Claireabellemakes. I ordered a copy, loved it, and when I saw an email calling for submissions a few months later, I thought why not? Then, can you imagine how excited I was when they actually accepted one of my tutorial ideas? WOWEEEEEEE!

The magazine is available now from the Caboodle website, but here’s a sneak preview to whet your appetite! I should add (although it is probably quite obvious) that those clumsy arrows in the first picture were added by me in paint.net as an expression of my joy at being a published author. Check it out!

My tutorial is a simple dip-your-toe-into-needle-felting project, inspired by my own first forays into this craft last year. If you’re interested in giving needle felting a try, this is a handy way to get used to the basic techniques by making and decorating some simple shapes!

Big thanks to Kayti Peschke from Caboodle for sharing an electronic version of the magazine, and giving us permission to use it! And also to Eirin, who took all my photos – believe me when I say that the tutorial would have been a disaster without her help! You can view her own stunning, atmospheric work on Instagram.

Phew! That’s about all I have time for this week! Swing by again next Tuesday, when I’ll have another new Beastie to share… In the meantime, have a great week!

Getting Around to Knit!

Posted on March 7, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Commissions, Crafting, Knitted Beasties

Well lookee here! It’s Tuesday again, and in keeping with BeastieBlog tradition, I’ve some new Beasties for you to meet today – although I think a few of you might already have caught these two little lady monsters on social media over the weekend…
… But this is your chance to get a proper, close-up look at them! As you can see, they are both keen knitters – and even though they’re working on quite different projects, they like nothing better than meeting up and comparing knit notes!
This pair have gone to live with a pair of fellow enthusiasts of all things yarny – Deirdre and Lora, from Irish craft magazine Olann And!

Lora and Deirdre - Image borrowed from www.olannand.ie — (Image borrowed from http://www.olannand.ie)

Deirdre thought it might be fun to have a pair of Beastie counterparts to share the work of writing and editing this quarterly magazine… So let’s meet her new monster friend first!
Her favourite colour is pink, so of course Deirdre Beastie had to be pink too… and she’s working away on a rather lovely bubblegum-coloured chunky knit there as well! Also, her cosy cowl is modelled on one of Deirdre’s own recent projects…
… And a quick scan of some of Olann And’s recent podcasts helped me to design her sweet little polka-dot dress!
As for Lora… Well, she’s more into her blue. As you can probably tell!
Her new Beastie friend is also sporting miniature versions of her trademark tortoiseshell glasses and Madonna piercing!
And Deirdre Beastie isn’t the only one to be wearing one of her latest knitted masterpieces! Check out Lora Beastie’s glorious cherry-red cardigan, inspired by one of human Lora’s recent makes…
But the best part of this project was watching Deirdre and Lora meet their Beasties for the first time… And fortunately, they caught it on camera! Here’s the link to Episode 10 of the Olann And Podcast, in case you missed it!

(For the sake of my non-crafty readers, I’ve set the video to start from the beginning of the Beastie segment. But I’d recommend my fellow knitters, sewists and crocheters to ping it back and watch the whole thing – you’ll find lots to enjoy and inspire you here!)

I can’t wait to see what yarny adventures await these two Beasties in their new homes! And be sure to tune back in next week to meet another new monster friend… In the meantime, why not check out Olann And’s latest issue? This time around, they’re featuring some awesome (and FREE!) patterns, sharing some locally-made goodies and dipping a toe into the world of embroidery – all on their spiffy new-look website!

Have a great week, everybody!

Beastie-Sized Photo Studio! CrawCrafts Beasties

What’s Goin’ On?

Posted on February 28, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Crafting, Info, Life at Beastie Towers

Phew! It feels like it’s been another busy old month here in Beastie Towers… but when I looked into my “Ready” box earlier, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of little monsters living in there yet. So much for my master plan of getting ALL my Christmas market stock made in the first 2 months of the year, eh?

That left me wondering what on earth I’d been up to, so I thought it was high time I offered another sneaky peek into life as a maker of monsters – hopefully it will help us all to solve the oh-so-intriguing Mystery of the Vanishing February!

First off, I ventured Northwards… And many of you will already have seen the photos Explorer Beastie and I took of our whistle-stop tour of Donegal.
(If you haven’t, catch up with Part 1 and Part 2 now!)

But that wasn’t the only reason for my trip. I was also planning to catch up with my buddy Julie from Juleco, so that she could teach me some new skills! Loyal BeastieBlog readers might remember the super revamping she did on the humble Beastie Passport last year…
… So I thought she might be able to help me figure out a better way to do my commission sketches as well. I spend a HEEEEUUUUUGE amount of time on these – time I’d really rather use for knitting! With Julie’s help, I’ve been taking my first steps with computer illustration using Adobe Illustrator, in the hope that I’ll be able to re-use elements across numerous sketches, colour-match better with the yarns from my stash and (best of all) colour in with a single click! I already feel that I’m making progress – I just hope I can get the basics down before my free trial runs out. I’ll keep you posted!

I’ve also been having fun playing with the new toy I mentioned in last week’s post. Ever since I went to an Etsy product photography evening last spring, I’ve been meaning to make a lightbox for myself… It’s so easy, and yet I never seemed to be able to scrape together the 20-odd minutes it would have taken to throw one together. I was tormented by questions of where on earth I was going to keep the thing once I’d made it, and how I would extricate it from its hiding place when I needed to use it. Fortunately for me, Boyfriend was taking notes – and look what showed up in my Christmas stocking!
It’s a Beastie-sized photography studio! It came complete with daylight lamps, backgrounds in 4 different colours and a tripod… And the best bit is that it folds down into an entirely portable (and stowable) 42cm square carry case. Now even the gloomiest winter mornings can be photoshoot days… I can’t wait to share my new-style pictures with you all, starting next week! I’ve had a few commissions on the go over the last while, and before each Beastie shipped out, they all got a little time in the studio.

In fact, commissions are probably what’s been munching up most of the month – they really do take time! And sometimes they demand a little bit of extra focus. So a couple of weekends ago, I did something that I haven’t done in… eeek, I don’t know how long! I unhooked myself from the internet. It helped that Boyfriend and I were heading off to the farm for a couple of days – in my mind, it makes a lot more sense to be offline when surrounded by wild countryside. As I made my way to the bus station on Friday evening, I caught up with all the notifications on my phone and then switched off data and WiFi for two whole days. I didn’t even take any pictures… Apart from the odd one down at the lake.
It was just the break I needed. Much as I love being part of this vast online community and meeting people I’d never have encountered otherwise, it was nice to spend time talking, reading and crafting without the distraction of a steady stream of beeps and flashing lights. I also couldn’t get over how much longer my battery lasted! It was like being back in 2005!

And when I switched my phone back on the following Monday morning, it didn’t explode with a sudden influx of unread notifications – catching up didn’t take that long at all, and I was excited to see what everyone had been up to while I’d been away. The world didn’t end because I tuned it out for a couple of days, and I didn’t miss out on a massive order, a life-changing opportunity or a genuine email from an exiled prince who needed me to hold onto his fortune for a short time in exchange for serious ca$h mon€y. In fact, I might be tempted to do this more often!
How about you? Do you reckon you could go on an internet crash diet? Let me know in the comments! And normal service resumes next week, with another new Beastie for you to meet. See you then!

A Monster Family, by CrawCrafts Beasties

It’s a Family Thing

Posted on February 21, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Commissions, Knitted Beasties

Isn’t this year flying in already? I can’t believe it’s been nearly two months since I was putting the finishing touches on the new Beasties I’ll be introducing to you today!

So before another month zips by, let’s catch up with the last Beasties of 2016 – a happy little monster family!
These Beastie parents are justifiably proud of their sweet new arrival, who I made sure to wrap up in a toasty merino wool blanket, to keep those December chills at bay!
And just look at Mama Beastie… She’s so stylish in her checked shirt and satin bomber jacket!
Of course, Beastie Dad is no slouch in the style stakes either! He’s a bit of a Manchester United fan (or maybe that’s Monschester United?) so he pretty much lives in his favourite football shirt…
… Although since it was the middle of winter when he left Beastie Towers, it would have been irresponsible of me to let him out without a jacket. So I made him a classic felt parka, complete with a fur-lined hood!
This look might have been a little inspired by his favourite band… So I kitted him out with a copy of Oasis’s breakthrough album “Definitely Maybe” to keep him and his new family entertained. If you look closely, you’ll see that this is a super-rare Beastie-fied special edition!
The album cover is as close a replica of the real thing as I could recreate in felt and teeny embroidery. Yikes! Remind me to start this kind of work in the summer, and not leave it until the very darkest days of December like I did last year!

OK Beasties, I think that’s everything you need. Time to head off and meet your new family!
The best bit is that they arrived just as their human counterparts dashed to the hospital to welcome their own little person into the world – what are the chances? I couldn’t have planned that better if I’d tried!

Phew! Now that we’re almost up to date with new Beasties, next week I’ll be sharing some of the latest news from Beastie Towers… including my new photography toy and why it’s nice to be incommunicado every once in a while. See you then!

Road Trip 2 – Extreme North!

Posted on February 17, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie, Knitted Beasties

This time last week, we left Explorer Beastie on a breezy hilltop overlooking Five Finger Strand in Co. Donegal…
… And now it’s time for us to push onwards and upwards, to Malin Head – the very northernmost point of the island!

There’s some pretty wild coastline up here…
… And before we headed up to the viewpoint, we took advantage of the last little bit of daylight (always in short supply at this time of the year) to wander along the shoreline. There are plenty of places for a Beastie to explore here!
Of course, sometimes just LOOKING at those rocks isn’t enough. The best way to experience them is definitely to get up close and paws-on…
…Because that’s when you discover hidden gems like these! Wouldn’t that pool be just heavenly on a hot day? Mind you, I’m not sure they get many hot days up here…

We also had a chance to watch the waves rolling in off the Atlantic, and see them meeting land for the first time in thousands of miles…
But as you can see, the light was fading fast… So we cut short our stroll and headed back uphill to the official lookout spot.
Here’s the proof that we were there! Oh, and the view isn’t bad either…
Apparently locals would gather here to catch a last glimpse of friends and family as they left in ships to seek an easier life elsewhere. Malin Head also has a military past – those incredible panoramic views made it an ideal spot to put a watchtower! There’s one here that dates back to the Napoleonic wars, and another signal station from around 1902.
I’m guessing my photo shows the signal station – although at the time my main motivation for taking the picture was the fact that it looked kinda like a monster singing into a microphone from this angle.

With a jam-packed camera and only slightly cold paws, it was time for us to hit the road again. But Donegal had a couple more surprises in store for us… First of all, a rather spectacular sunset!
And further down the road, a warm welcome at the Drift Inn! We’d barely entered the cosy bar before some locals sat us down at their table, in front of the most roaring open fire I’ve ever seen – seriously, there was half a tree on there – and started chatting away to us like we were regulars ourselves. They even treated Explorer Beastie to a pint of the black stuff!
That’s a lot of beer for one Beastie – no wonder he looks a little blurry around the edges! Cheers!

It really is amazing what you can discover when you journey even a short distance away from your usual haunts, isn’t it? If any of you have had a fun “staycation” or day trip recently, we’d love to hear about it! Share your story in the comments… and we’ll be back on Tuesday with the last of the pre-Christmas Beasties!

(Mer)Made Just for You!

Posted on February 14, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family, Commissions, Knitted Beasties

After Explorer Beastie’s trip to the northwest coast last week, it seems like a good idea to carry on with this maritime theme for a little longer! How do you all feel about meeting a real, live Mermaid Beastie?Look, there she is… elegantly running her paws through her tresses, as mermaids are wont to do. Now, at the risk of running aground on some treacherous rocks, let’s take a closer look at this elusive Beastie… You may never see her like again!

First, you’ve probably noticed that she’s wearing a rather fetching seashell bikini top… A girl has to keep up with fashion, even if she does live underwater.
She also has a friendly starfish in her hair, to keep her lustrous locks out of her eyes.
But of course, you probably want proof that this isn’t just a regular girl Beastie in a costume. So, here you are – check out her beautiful, scaly, sparkly tail!
Sharp-eyed Beastie spotters will also notice that her tail is stitched in such a way that she can lounge coyly on rocky outcrops, rather than sitting bolt upright…
… Although this shot captured her just as she got tired of posing for the camera, and she prepared to swim off to new and exotic shores! Since she left just before Christmas, I’m sure she found the waters around Ireland pretty chilly, but fortunately it wasn’t long before I received confirmation that she had arrived safely in her new home!
Heehee! It looks like she’s settling in well – and possibly challenging the Christmas fairy bear for her spot at the top of the tree!

Thanks for joining me for another New Beastie day – I’ll have the last of my Christmas commissions to share with you next week, so be sure to drop back in for that! And join us again on Friday for part 2 of Explorer Beastie’s trip to the very top of Ireland. See you then!

Roooooad Triiiiiip!

Posted on February 10, 2017June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family, Explorer Beastie

Alas, poor Explorer Beastie! He doesn’t get out nearly as much as he’d like. So last week, when an opportunity for a bit of an adventure in Ireland’s wild north west presented itself, it was all I could do to stop him from sleeping in the car the night before.

Ready? Off we go!
Because this is such a small island, we soon felt like we had left the city far behind…
… And of course, it wasn’t long before all this fresh air gave us a bit of an appetite. Time for a pitstop – and that most important meal, Third Breakfast.
YUM! We also had a chance to hang out with some of the locals…
… And sign the visitors’ book!
Tempting as it was to stick around for dinner, there was exploring to be done! We piled back into the car, cranked up the cheesy 90s dance music to 11 and made for the coast. Next stop, Five Finger Strand!
Nice to feel the sand under your paws, Explorer Beastie? Thought so!
There’s plenty to do here – look for bird tracks, clamber over driftwood, hide in the grass… And the view’s not too shabby either!
In fact, it would all make a Beastie feel very small and insignificant… Well, if he wasn’t busy photobombing all my pictures.
As the daylight started to fade, we took the high road away from Five Finger Strand… and stopped on the side of the road to get a different perspective of the beach and the surrounding countryside.
How cool is that isolated little church?

Next stop, Ireland’s northernmost point – Malin Head!

Buuuuut in keeping with the coastal theme, we’re going to leave this post as a cliffhanger! Part two will be coming your way this time next week, AND there’s a marine-themed new Beastie for you to meet on Tuesday too!

Are any of you hitting the road this weekend? Tell us all about it in the comments!

FYI – We got our delicious fry-up in Café Donagh, Carndonagh… Highly recommended if you’re planning a hectic day of Donegal-based exploring and/or Beastie-wrangling. This quirky little café serves generous breakfasts all day long, and I have it on good authority that their coffee is excellent too!

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