Dublin – Page 7 – Beastie HQ

Pint Beastie - Barróg Beasties, by CrawCrafts Beasties

A Lazy Summer Afternoon with Pint Beastie!

Posted on August 11, 2015June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Knitted Beasties

Some of you may remember these little woolly faces from my summer colours post a couple of weeks ago! In between all the markets, days out and blogging challenges set by the nice folks at Blogging 101, I’ve been kitting these monsters out with some extra-special accessories!

I wanted to give all of them an Irish flavour, because these are Barróg Beasties – a local subspecies of Beastie grown from yarn that is harvested, spun and dyed right here in Ireland. Let’s meet one of them, shall we?
May I introduce… Pint Beastie!

Let’s face it, Ireland has a bit of a reputation when it comes to the old “demon drink”. Personally, I’m not so sure we deserve our worldwide notoriety as a nation of boozers – there are certainly plenty of other contenders for the crown – but it is fair to say that a lot of our social life here centres around the humble pub. I’m inclined to blame this on our weather… in a country where it can be rainy and cold at any time of the year, the pub will provide shelter from the elements, companionship, news and the possibility of consuming a little something to help you feel warmer.

Of course, during our brief, fleeting summer, everything changes. A balmy evening in Dublin sees pub patrons flooding outside to catch some sun, and any establishment with a beer garden, yard or quiet stretch of pavement outside will be absolutely packed. And on those days, even us hardened stout and ale drinkers might be tempted to switch things up and order a cold, crisp pint of lager instead.

With this in mind, I just had to take Pint Beastie out to the garden today!

He really enjoyed having a quiet tipple and watching the world go by!

Cheers to that, I say!

While he was there, he bumped into another Summer Barróg Beastie – what’s he got in his paw?
All will be revealed next time!

What’s your favourite summertime drinkable? Let me know in the comments!

Today on Blogging 101…

Posted on August 6, 2015June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Info, Knitted Beasties

…It’s all about you, lovely readers!

Today, I’ve been asked to write something especially for my imagined ideal audience member. And the unspoken first part of the assignment is, I suppose, to have a bit of a think about who that person might be, and what makes them tick.

When I started this blog in (checks facts) November 2013, I had a very clear plan for it – the blog was here to support my embryonic Beastie business. I had just quit a job in a web design company in Northern Ireland to move back to Dublin and, coming from that background, the idea of attempting to start a business without some kind of online presence was completely unthinkable. So, I set up my blog, and went about filling it with photos of my work, in the hope of getting more people interested in what I was doing. Back then, I was writing for customers, and I was simply telling them what I was making, and where they could buy it.

But somewhere along the line, it seems to me that something shifted. If I were to try to pin it down to a particular moment, I’d say it was the first time Explorer Beastie went out for an adventure.

Having Explorer Beastie accompany me when I went out and about allowed me to start bringing some of my other passions onto the blog – travel, food and sharing my favourite places around Dublin. And then, as more Beasties went to new homes further afield, I started having even more material for these kinds of posts…
…So it began to feel like a real little community! The BeastieBlog might have started life as “the store”, but now it’s the fan club. And in my book, that’s a lot more worthwhile.

All this considered, how do I see my ideal reader now? Well, I imagine they’re quite similiar to me – people who grew up loving cartoons and hoping that their stuffed animals would come alive (although not in a “Child’s Play” kind of way). They still get a kick out of exploring new places, even if they’re only across town, and they’re constantly amazed by the bizarre array of creatures we share the planet with. They’re probably a bit kooky or nerdy, and have a penchant for cult movies and almost-forgotten music. They love to read, but were never too big on sports. And they always have time for a bit of silliness.

So to you, imaginary perfect reader, I want to say – RELAX. This isn’t just for kids. There is enough serious stuff going on the world, and you can get back to it in a few minutes – if you want to. For now, fix yourself a cup of tea and your favourite treat, and come and hang out with me and my little monsters.

The second half of today’s project is to use a new element in my blog, to mix things up a little. Exciting! I didn’t actually realise that I was able to embed from Pinterest, so I’m going to share a couple of boards that I’ve been putting together recently. Enjoy!

99 Beastie's Icecream Cone, by CrawCrafts Beasties

Beasties, Beans and Blogging

Posted on August 4, 2015June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Info, Knitted Beasties

It’s been a busy couple of days in Beastie Towers… and beyond! On Saturday, we took part in our first market in aaaages, at the Ha’Penny Flea. Because Beasties don’t take up much room, we got a really good spot by the front door, so we were able to enjoy a little bit of the sunshine. The weather was behaving surprisingly well for a bank holiday weekend!

At the market, a couple of my newer Beasties (who haven’t really had a chance to make an appearance on the BeastieBlog before now) headed off to new homes. Ready to meet them?

First of all, one of my Summer Edition Barróg Beasties was snapped up by one of my regular customers! This is 99 Beastie, because summer wouldn’t be summer without dollops of snowy-white vanilla ice cream served with a chocolate flake on top…

And let’s just have a closer look at that ice cream cone, shall we? YUUUUUM!

By the way, if anyone knows why we call this type of ice cream a “99”, please enlighten me in the comments… so far, the only explanations I can come up with are a) that they used to cost a mere 99p back in the good old days, or b) that if you eat 99 of them in one sitting, you’re in real trouble.

Another Beastie who left with a new family on Saturday was Tea Lover Beastie!

It is possible that they are more of a coffee-drinking household, but Tea Lover Beastie is more than happy to try new things!

Also making the journey to a new home today (thanks to the wonders of Etsy) is one of my little fleecy “Mame-Chan” beans!
She’s on her way to Alyssa, in the USA… thanks, Alyssa!

And finally, you may notice a little bit of extra activity on the BeastieBlog over the next three weeks. I’ve just started WordPress’s Blogging 101 course, in the hope of making my little corner of the internet a nicer place to be! Yesterday’s challenge was to introduce myself to the world and my new classmates, so I took the opportunity to refresh my About page. If you have a second, please go and check it out… I’d love any feedback you might have, even if it is “I liked it better the way it was”!

Thanks for reading!

Goth Beastie in Glasnevin Cemetery, by CrawCrafts Beasties

Glasnevin Cemetery, With Goth Beastie

Posted on July 31, 2015June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family, Knitted Beasties

Call me macabre, but there’s nothing I like better than wandering around cemeteries. They’re peaceful, interesting and a little creepy at the same time. And Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery is one of my favourites! Luckily it’s just across the river and up the road, in the inner suburbs on the north side of the city. Opened in 1832, it now covers an area of around 124 acres, and is the final resting place of 1.5 million of Dublin’s departed. On my most recent visit, I was accompanied by Goth Beastie. She looked strangely at home among the gravestones…

If you’re interested in Irish history, Glasnevin is a must-see. Many of the significant figures from our recent past are buried here, including Daniel O’Connell, whose campaign to allow Catholics to be offered the same right to a dignified funeral as Protestants led to the establishment of this very graveyard! An early-mediaeval style round tower stands on his tomb, and it can be seen from pretty much anywhere in the cemetery – it’s in the background of this photo…

Glasnevin is also home to some beautiful old trees, which line the pathways between the graves…

And there’s such a huge variety of styles in the monuments here, too! There are underground crypts…
…Traditional crosses…

…And some more understated ones. Goth Beastie was particularly taken with this one.

But it wasn’t long before the sun got too high in the sky for certain pale-faced Beastie ladies! There was just time for Goth Beastie to seek out a little cool shade before we headed for home…

How do you feel about graveyards? An interesting place to spend an afternoon, or too spooky for words?

Exciting News!

Posted on July 7, 2015June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Crafting, Info

About a month ago I got an email from a company called Pod, asking if the Beasties and I would like to join their online crafty community and be featured on their website. Um, YES PLEASE!

The site launched on the 1st of July, and since my latest round of new Beasties need to remain secret for the moment, I thought I’d give you a sneak preview! I’m really proud to be involved in this, especially after I took a look at the work of the other artists and craftspeople they’ve included. They’ve put in a little bit about each of us…

…That’s me third from the left in the top row. You would not BELIEVE the trouble I had trying to find a photo of myself in which I am not holding a pint of Guinness or pulling my very attractive monster face. And of course, the Beasties are there too!

This first phase of the Pod website is all about introducing the makers and showing off their wares, but they’re planning to add more features in the near future. I’m really excited to see what they have in the pipeline!

In the meantime, why not go and have a look around?
www.poddub.com

More hot-off-the-knitting-needles Beasties next week, once they’ve arrived safely in their new homes!

A Monster Tour of Dublin

Posted on June 12, 2015June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family

Wow! It’s been a hectic couple of weeks here at Beastie Towers! Sometimes a project comes along that demands a little extra effort, and that’s why there hasn’t been much activity here on the BeastieBlog lately. I’ll unveil that monster undertaking soon enough, but it seemed a bit much for a Friday… so let’s take a leisurely stroll around Dublin with Tae Beastie instead!

Just over a month ago, I got a request through Etsy for a Beastie with a mug. My tea-loving Barróg Beastie, Tae Beastie, was excited to leave Beastie Towers for pastures new… and when his family-to-be asked for some photos of him in his home town, we were happy to oblige! So here is Tae Beastie’s whistle-stop tour of Dublin, in pictures!

We started off just down the road from Beastie Towers, at the Guinness factory. Guinness is still brewed here on the original site at St James’ Gate, a little west of the city centre, and most days the air in this part of town is filled with the delicious chocolately scent of roasted barley, which gives the beer its dark colour.

As you can see, there’s quite a contrast between the modern high-tech brewery and the older buildings on the site! However, many of the original buildings are still in use – one houses the Storehouse visitor centre, while others have been converted into offices.

After a wander through the lanes and alleys of the old brewery, we started heading for town! There was plenty to see along the way – this part of the city is packed with old churches. I asked Tae Baestie to pose with two of the most well-known… first of all St Audoen’s Church, which was built in 1190 and is the oldest parish church in Dublin (factoids courtesy of Wikipedia). I’ve also heard rumours that it’s haunted!

Next, we passed Christ Church Cathedral, which in Medieval times was right in the very heart of the city.

It’s a fascinating building, with flying buttresses, a crypt and a covered passageway which links the Cathedral to the Synod Hall on the other side of the street. Christ Church stands at the far end of the Temple Bar area, so our next move was to take a stroll through the cobbled back streets!

Temple Bar can be a bit of a tourist trap, but there are a few good pubs around here if you know where to look. I still enjoy an occasional visit to The Porter House or the Palace Bar when I’m in the area. However, most people end up here…

Our walk through Temple Bar brought us out conveniently just in front of Trinity College, home of the Book of Kells. It’s also where I went to university!

This is Front Square, and the archway you can see towards the back of the picture is the main entrance to the College. Outside is one of the busiest roads in the city centre… but once you walk through Front Arch, all the traffic noise just VANISHES. It’s like stepping back in time! Tae Beastie enjoyed posing with the Campanile and this statue of a former Provost, whose expression I just can’t figure out… is he very stern, or does he have a bit of a cheeky glint in his eye?
After that, we made a beeline (or, rather, a Beastieline) for St Stephen’s Green. This park is right in the middle of the south side city centre, and it’s a great place to enjoy the arrival of spring!

Just inside the main entrance at the top of Grafton Street, you’ll find this lovely long avenue of lime trees. I’ll sometimes go out of my way to walk along here, whether it’s to enjoy the shade on a hot summer’s day, or kick through piles of bright yellow heart-shaped leaves in the autumn. Tae Beastie was especially taken with the fresh new foliage… check out those vibrant bright green leaves!
There were also plenty of spring flowers to see…
We managed to get our final pictures just as the sun disappeared behind a cloud, and (luckily) before the rain started. Well, that’s spring in Ireland for you! Later that day, Tae Beastie headed off to his new home in Atlanta, Georgia… let’s hope he’s settling in well in the Peach State!

Nautical But Nice – The Further Adventures of Paddy & Plunkett

Posted on May 29, 2015June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family

It’s been a while since we’ve caught up with adventurous Irish Beasties Paddy and Plunkett… but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been busy! A while ago, they sent me some pictures of their visit to the National Maritime Museum of Ireland, which is in Dun Laoghaire in south County Dublin. I can see why they were keen to have a look around… the place is full of Beastie-sized boats!

Of course, not everything in the museum is miniaturised! Here they are posing with a recently restored Boyne curragh – a traditional Irish river boat made from cow hide stretched over a framework of woven hazel.

And this giant lightbulb definitely isn’t Beastie-size!

It’s the revolving lamp from a lighthouse, and its bright light sent the boys scuttling off in search of their sunglasses. But look what they found on the way! Paddy couldn’t pass up the chance to pose with this old-fashioned diving suit.

After that, they visited the Marconi Room, where Plunkett typed up a report of their findings…

… And Paddy sent it using the Morse code machine!

Luckily they chose to email it to me as well… my knowledge of Morse code is a little rusty. And once the message was sent, it was time to head off – who knows where they’ll pop up next?

About Paddy and Plunkett
Paddy and Plunkett are are special sub-species of Beastie called “Barróg Beasties”. “Barróg” is the Irish word for “hug”, which neatly sums up how friendly these little monsters are! They’re also special because they’re made from 100% Irish wool, which is spun and dyed in a family-owned mill in Co. Kilkenny. Keep an eye out for more Barróg Beasties on the BeastieBlog in the not-too-distant future!

Nice Day For A Monster Wedding…

Posted on April 15, 2015June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Knitted Beasties

Well, it’s been a long old winter… but over the last few weeks, it really has started to feel like spring is on the way! The flowerbeds in the park on my way to work are a riot of colour, there are fresh green leaves on the trees outside my window, and the sun is even daring to peek out from behind the clouds every once in a while!

The arrival of spring also heralds the start of the wedding season… and it looks like this event isn’t limited to Dublin’s human population! A recent burst of sunshine saw me taking a day trip to the National Botanical Gardens just north of the city centre, where I encountered a blushing Beastie bride posing for photos among the flowers!

I first found her standing in a patch of heather. The tiny purple and white flowers really work well with her delicate pale blue skin tone, don’t you think?

We also took a picture at the picturesque Beastie-sized waterfall that flows through the rockery and Japanese-style garden!
And of course, it’s not a proper springtime photoshoot without a host of golden daffodils in there somewhere, so…

After that, we took a stroll through the crocuses in search of more photo opportunities inside the glasshouses… the one you can see in the background of this picture is the Palm House, which is the largest in the gardens. It’s full of awesome tropical plants, such as coffee, banana trees and enormous bamboo canes!

But Bride Beastie preferred something a little less exotic as a backdrop, so we set her up against these richly-coloured cyclamens instead.

It also turned out to be a prime location for some closeups of her elegant wedding hairdo, veil and bouquet!
After all that, I figured it was time to let her get back to her wedding party! Hopefully she’ll keep in touch and send on some photos from her honeymoon…

On Yer Bike!

Posted on April 8, 2015June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Knitted Beasties

I have to admit that I’m more of a walker than a cyclist… I rarely fall off my feet, but I have a patchwork of scars on my knees that testify to my apparent inability to get from A to B on two wheels. That said, I do know a good few bike enthusiasts – everyone else in my immediate family, for starters – so when I was called upon to kit out a Cyclist Beastie recently, I had plenty of source material to work with!

The first thing I had to tackle (and probably the most daunting) was making a Beastie-sized cycling helmet. Anyone who looked in through my window while I was trying to figure out the template must have wondered what on earth I was up to – squeezing invisible fruit? Seated tai chi? Complete mental breakdown? Still, it must have worked…

The helmet has four air vents in the top to keep Beastie’s head cool, and is constructed from two layers of felt with stuffing in between to protect his head from knocks… just in case he takes after me! Here he is modelling it…
He also looks equally good without it, of course.

And, as a final touch, I thought I’d give him a Beastie-sized energy bar – just to keep him going on those tiring uphill slogs!

Now all he has to do is try to remember where he left his bike!

Cyclist Beastie was commissioned as a surprise Valentine’s Day gift, but I was the one who ended up being surprised by him! After he left home, the next time I saw him was when he popped up here.

Thanks to Cian at Alimay Sports for introducing Cyclist Beastie to the wider biking community… I honestly wasn’t expecting him to make his mark on the cycling world so early in his career. Hopefully he’s settling in well in his new home… and not eating all the PowerBars!

Beasties, Beans and Banners… My Market Day!

Posted on December 11, 2014June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Info, Knitted Beasties

Yikes! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I last posted something! I’ve been pouring all my days into preparing for my latest market, and it didn’t leave much time for anything else… between the knitting, stitching and coming up with some new ideas to freshen up my display, I’ve been somewhat reclusive these last few weeks!

But the madness is over, and now that I’ve taken a couple of days to catch my breath, tidy up the stray balls of wool and (GASP!) start my Christmas shopping, it’s really high time I sat down and shared all my news.

First of all, for any of you who haven’t stumbled upon the Beasties’ Facebook page yet, I’m proud to introduce my new Santa Beasties – freshly arrived from Lapland!

We’ve been experiencing some pretty polar-type weather here lately ourselves, so I’ve also been wrapping up some of my new Beasties in cosy hats and scarves…

…And I couldn’t resist making a Christmas Fairy Beastie to sit at the top of my Christmas tree!

But the surprise hit of the day was my new range of cuddly toy beans!

I got the idea for these from my friends Stephen and Yayoi. Before they picked out a name for their baby girl, they called her “Mame-chan”, which means “little bean” in Japanese. I thought it would be fun to make a little toy edamame (soy) bean from some lime green fleece fabric I had in my stash, and I actually sold a couple of “Mame-chans” at my pop-up shop back in May! For this market, I decided to add a couple more characters – a sassy pink Jellybean and a Chilli (or, more correctly, chilly) Bean with a woolly beanie hat and a big chilled-out smile. And the kids loved them! I’ll definitely be making more of these… I’ve already got a few ideas for some more beany friends!

While I was getting my team of Beasties and Beans ready to go, I started thinking about my display. A while back, a friend of mine suggested I make a banner to help make my stall more visible. I liked the idea, but hadn’t a clue what to put on the banner. Then finally, inspiration struck…

… and after an afternoon of literally watching paint dry in the freeeeeeezing underground car park of Beastie Towers, I came up with this!

I’m still trying to convince Boyfriend that this masterpiece of monster art deserves a place on our living room wall…

Aaaaand finally, something else I’ve wanted to do for a while is to try my hand at making some Beastie t-shirts. What better opportunity than the flurry of activity/panic that comes with preparing for an upcoming market? Since my mum had very kindly agreed to help me on the day, and had said, “Yes, I’ll wear anything!” I went ahead and created these…

And here I am modelling mine on market day! This won’t be the last time I wear this shirt… I kinda love it!

Thanks for stopping by… more Beastie adventures coming soon (I promise)!

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