Oh wow, what a week it’s been! Isn’t it funny how life can be so quiet for a while, and then a whole bunch of things happen all at once? So, although the original purpose of this post was just to share the results of my Beastie calendar poll, I’ll get around to that in a tick… Because I have some breaking news to share first!
Cow’s Lane Designer Studio in Temple Bar has very kindly offered the Beasties a spot in their prestigious Irish craft and design store! The Beasties are so chuffed to find themselves on the shelves and rubbing shoulders with some of our favourite local talents, including Guadalupe Creations, Niki Collier Design and Brookwood Pottery!
An elite squad of little knitted monsters already made their way down to the shop last week, but Explorer Beastie was keen to pop in and see his friends in their new pad. So we took a quick trip over there yesterday… Care to join us?
Explorer Beastie was tempted to freewheel down twisty Fishamble Street on this greenery-bedecked bicycle, but fortunately I was able to talk him out of it. Let’s just walk the rest of the way, perhaps?
And sure enough, it wasn’t long before we found ourselves in the narrow cobbled streets of Temple Bar!
Aha! This must be the place. Let’s go in!
Ooooh! Pretty!
And look… There they are!
The Beasties will be guests at Cow’s Lane Designer Studio for at least the next month, so if you’re in the area, please do pop in and say hello! All of them are eager to meet you, and maybe find their forever home!
Now, what about that calendar? First of all, thank you SO MUCH to everyone who voted, and especially those of you who shared further insights and ideas in the comments! More than once during the past week, I’ve been truly floored by what a generous, thoughtful and ingenious bunch of people you are… I consider myself incredibly lucky to have found you all! So, without further ado –
Ta-daaaaah! The people have spoken, and they’ve come out in favour of a calendar gap year. Although I reckon I’ll really have to deliver on my promise to get something bigger, brighter and better together for 2019! It’s also interesting that the idea of abandoning the calendar altogether was the least popular option – I’ve been happy to discover that I’m not the last person on earth who depends one of these primitive devices to stop my world from descending into chaos!
A couple of you even suggested other ways I can create a calendar, without having to go the whole hog and get a printer involved. I’m excited to give these a try over the next couple of weeks, so fellow calendar enthusiasts – watch this space!
Aaaaand finally – I couldn’t do a post about good things without mentioning the delightful parcel I received during the week from my long-term blogging buddy Tajana! In case you missed it on Instagram…
My beautiful handknitted socks arrived just as the weather took a turn for the chilly, and look at all the other goodies that found their way into the package as well! Tajana is probably sick of hearing me saying thank you at this point, but one more can’t hurt… THANK YOU, Tajana! You rock!
If you’d like to see more of Tajana’s incredible knits, bakes and other makes (plus some views of the glorious Italian countryside to boot), you can find her here…
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You can tell it’s nearly lunchtime when I’m posting pictures of cakes!
So, between shop-stocking, surveying and sweet new socks, it’s been a pretty peachy week here at Beastie Towers! What’s been making you happy over the last 7 days?
The summery mallow flowers might be in full bloom, but Woolly Jumper Beastie loves her stylish purple sweater too much to take it off! Still, it’s actually a pretty good piece of kit for an active, adventurous Beastie – its natty top-down construction keeps seam bulk to a minimum and gives her plenty of wiggle room!
And this isn’t the only Beastie in the garden today… Who’s that hiding in the undergrowth?
Hey there, Redhead Beastie! She’s a Barróg Beastie (one made with 100% Irish wool), which might explain why she’s drawn to all that greenery!
Too pretty!
Delicious! Burger Beastie seems to be especially enjoying the whole picnicking experience.
Wow, haven’t they changed? Unsurprisingly, this first post of mine got no likes… at least not until Noémie from 
Urrrgh, again with the terrible photography! Isn’t it lucky that I was trying to rehome Beasties that weekend, rather than photographs? That said, I was pretty surprised that I had to put up this sign on my table halfway through Sunday afternoon…
And thus, a Maker of Monsters was born! From there, it was a short leap to taking on my first commission…
… And by now, I’d picked up two of my longest-standing followers, who I still try to keep up with. Knitters will find lots to love on 
Look at him there, hanging out with Ampelmann in Berlin! And by the time he’d taken the first of many trips to Co. Roscommon, in the western midlands of Ireland…
… We’d picked up another BeastieBlog lifer,
Barróg Beasties (the name is the Irish word for “hug”) have gone on to become some of the most popular Beasties out there… Especially the ones with pints of Guinness or little Aran sweaters! Oh, and it’s around this time that
By now, we’d been joined by 
That year, I also found some great new blogs through WordPress’s Blogging 101 course – including one of my favourite travel blogs, 
It’s also been fun to see more people getting in touch with pictures of their own Beasties’ adventures – like 
Aaaand that’s probably enough gushing from me for one day! I hope you enjoyed this whistle-stop tour of Beastie history – it’s actually been fun for me to look back through the archives as well. It’s also made me realise that, although there are a good few people who have been with me since the early days, I’ve encountered a whole LOAD of interesting and inspiring bloggers in the last few months. So I’m saving my “who I’m reading now” list for a future post, coming up in a couple of weeks!
I called this little woolly dude “Lucky Guy Beastie”, because he was made for the winner of the prize draw I ran on my 
The jacket is also removable, of course!
Next, he needed a backpack… and I snuck a tasty cheese sandwich in here, in case this little monster gets hungry on his travels!
Finally, I completed his kit with a Beastie-sized watch…
… And he was ready to go!
That said, Ismail thought that his Beastie might get lonely all by himself… So he asked if I could make him a companion. Done and done!
While Ismail is here in Dublin studying, his girlfriend is still at home in Indonesia. Fortunately, her Beastie counterpart was ready just in time to be shared via videochat on her birthday!
You might also have noticed her nice little knitted cardigan, which can be taken off on hot days…
… And which is my second top-down knitted garment! (My first was the “first draft” of this, which turned out a little too big after blocking and was subsequently pinched by Explorer Beastie. I’m starting to wonder if he maybe had a 
Incidentally, I owe a big thank you to Shirley at 
Congratulations again to Ismail, and I hope you like your new monster friends!
4. For a smoother curve, cut a few notches at intervals along the edge of the felt, near to (but of course not actually touching) the seam. Then turn the body “shell” right side out.
6. Don’t stitch all the way around, though! When you’re within 2cm of the beginning of the seam, take a break from sewing and get stuffing. Gently push the toy filling inside, making sure it gets right up into the top of the bee’s back! I find a chopstick or pencil really helps with this bit.
Then continue sewing to close up the opening.
8. Pin the face to the front (point 1) of the body, then use whip stitch to sew along the bottom edge (side C) first, and then along the top. I’ve done a couple of stitches in orange for the photos, so you can see what’s going on!
When you get to the antennae, sew a couple of backstitches across the base, so that they can stand up from the bee’s head.
10. Next, attach the tail piece to the bee’s bottom (point 2) in the same way as you attached the face piece. Side C covers the line of black stitches at the base, while the zigzag edge goes over the bee’s back. Pin in place, then stitch as before…
11. …And then repeat for the stripe as well!
Nearly there!
12. For the wings, fold the wing shape in half and sew a seam 2mm from the short edge in cream thread.
