We Make Monsters.
Well, it’s here at last! Merry Christmas to all my Beastie buddies, old and new! The Beasties and I will be back in the new year with more adventures… In the meantime, enjoy your celebrations (whatever they may be) and thanks for being a part of our big monster family!
Oh dear, a new post is looooong overdue! At least I have a reasonable excuse this time – I started a new job last Monday! Between that and moving house over the summer, it’s been quite the eventful year… I figured I’d better check in now before something else happens!
My last post might have given the impression that London begins and ends in Kew Gardens – at least for Beasties. But that couldn’t be further from the truth! Explorer Beastie managed to see a lot, given the short time (and short legs) he had. Our first port of call was the Victoria and Albert Museum – this has to be one of my favourite places in London, and I always try to visit when I’m here. Every time I go, I find something I hadn’t seen before! I enjoyed introducing Explorer Beastie to the Dacre Beasts…
… And he loved the massive glass sculpture in the entrance hall!
He even made a friend!
Of course, we were at Kew all day Saturday…
…But on Sunday we found ourselves in the City, next to St Paul’s Cathedral.
We took a walk across the Millenium Bridge, where we able to check out some of the newest additions to London’s skyline… and a few older ones as well!
We had to pass them all by though, because we were on the way to… Shakespeare’s Globe! Explorer Beastie even made it up onto the stage…
On our last day, we made a pilgrimage to I Knit in search of woolly treats. It was just a short hop on the Tube…
… And Explorer Beastie turned it into yet another networking opportunity. He had a great time chatting away while I made some very important purchasing decisions!
All that left me with just enough time to cram my suitcase full of yarn before dashing to the airport. After all that, I might just need a holiday… see you soon with more Beastie adventures!
My trip to London over the weekend wasn’t just for me… It was also the perfect opportunity for Explorer Beastie to catch up with an old friend! Garcia Beastie left his skis behind for a day to join us at Kew Gardens for a spot of horticultural exploring… as you shall see.
Luckily for us, the Great British weather decided to show its finer side! We got one of those perfect early autumn days for our visit – warm, bright sunshine with just a hint of coolness in the air. Lovely stuff! Also, it turns out Beasties get into Kew Gardens free of charge! But of course, it wasn’t long before they were up to mischief…
I turned my back for five seconds, and the pair of them were halfway up one of the gnarly old olive trees in the Mediterranean Garden! Since they were so intent on climbing, I thought they’d enjoy the Xstrata Treetop Walkway…
Up here, you can stroll around in the treetops to your heart’s content! Explorer Beastie scaled the barriers to make sure he got the best views…
…And he did get to see some surprising things!
Sweet chestnuts growing at the very top of the tree, and an unusual bird having them for lunch! Kew Gardens is full of these green parrots, which are actually wild – they’re the descendants of escaped pets. We saw several large groups doing fly-by displays during our visit, and they’re hard to miss… they’re pretty noisy! The scenery up there wasn’t bad either…
Back on dry land, we made Beastie-sized tracks towards the Pagoda, a 10-storey Chinese-style folly that has been standing in Kew since 1762!
The building is doubly impressive up close…
…And there is also a Japanese-style gate and zen garden nearby!
But we couldn’t stop for long, because there was plenty more exploring to do! Our next port of call was Queen Charlotte’s Cottage, where Garcia Beastie helped out a lady who seemed to have lost her head over something…
And then, a spot of lunch.
Suitably refuelled, we took in some of the Intoxication Season exhibits…
… had a wander around the Princess of Wales Conservatory…
… explored the world of underwater plants…
…And took a trip to the top of the Palm House!
As the light began to fade, there was just enough time to take some final pictures with the rather imposing Plantagenet Falcon, one of the “Queen’s Beasts”. These ten heraldic-inspired sculptures line the path outside the Palm House, and are replicas of statues that stood outside Westminster Abbey during the Queen’s coronation in 1953. Perhaps I should arrange something similar along the street outside Beastie Towers…
And so ended another monster day out! More London-based Beastie adventures next time!
Anyone who keeps up with the Beasties through Facebook will already know that over the weekend, my Mum got in touch with me to tell me that she’s been having trouble visiting the BeastieBlog lately. Why? Because her ISP is blocking this site due to its references to (and I quote) “VIOLENCE and WEAPONS”.
I’ve been so tickled by this that I couldn’t resist mentioning it in my post today… and using it as an excuse to do a retrospective of some of my choicest armed-to-the-teeth Beasties. Those of a sensitive disposition should probably look away now… Here we go!
First up is one of my early creations – Guerrilla Woolfare Beastie, who left Beastie Towers more than a year ago. Although he isn’t armed, he is considered highly dangerous… Just look at that incendiary literature he’s carrying around with him!
The new year ushered in a new crowd of bad-to-the-bone Beasties! We started out with Pirate Beastie, whose razor-sharp felt cutlass could probably do some serious damage…
…Then Ninja Beastie made an appearance! He refused to settle for “just” having a sword, and insisted I make him a pair of sai and a shuriken (throwing star) as well!
Oh, and then he called for reinforcements.
You’d think that would be enough, but…
…Soon afterwards, Rambo Beastie came to town. That’s a close-up of his knife in the picture at the top of this post – a lethal-looking piece of feltwork, I’m sure you’ll agree. And who could forget Viking Beastie, recently off the longship and ready for battle with his round shield and prestigious Ulfbeast sword?
Hmmm… is it possible that the powers that be are right? Even my Chef Beastie is carrying a knife!
I’d better keep an eye on these critters… if they weren’t so gosh-darn cute they could probably land me in some serious trouble!
Thanks for checking out BeastieBlog… officially the most violent knitting blog on the whole internet!
Yes, I know Indie Rock Beastie already got a good bit of airtime in my post last week. But I figured that since he is currently involved in helping out with some fundraising, that more than justified giving him a second guest appearance on the BeastieBlog. Plus, we really didn’t get a chance to talk about his guitar.
Guitars are one of the most labour-intensive Beastie accessories to make… every piece is hand cut and hand sewn, and their small size makes this one fiddly task! Also, no two guitar-toting Beasties have ever been given the same instrument. My first one got a bright pink flying V…
…Then I had to make a more Robert-Smith-esque guitar for my Robert Smith Beastie!
I had originally intended to use the same basic template for Indie Rock Beastie’s guitar, but somehow it just didn’t look right. Since I am a stickler for such things/a masochist/insane (delete as applicable), I decided to embark on some research. And I came across this…
(Image from en.audiofanzine.com)
It’s a Gibson ES325, as played (and, I found out later, smashed onstage in a fit of pique) by Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill. The one shown in the image above perfectly fitted with my idea of what Indie Rock Beastie should play… and the colour of the body rather conveniently matched some felt in my crafting stash too! How could I resist?
I started by modifying my template to reflect the deeper, more symmetrical shape of this guitar…
… and raided my scraps bag for teeny pieces of felt to make the details! When I’m cutting out felt, I always keep any offcuts – they’re so useful for projects like this one because I can trim them to the right shape by eye, rather than cutting out tiny circles and rectangles from a larger piece of fabric.
Once the guitar body was finished and lightly stuffed, the last stage is to add the strings!
These are run from underneath the piece of grey felt at the end of the guitar’s body, and tied off along the headstock. Then all that was left to do was to place it carefully in the paws of my finished Beastie, and let him do the rest!
Hooray! It’s time for some new Beasties!
The latest arrival at Beastie Towers is Cheerleader Beastie, a bubbly little monster who is sure to win herself more than a few fans! Check out her cute hand-stitched felt uniform, complete with Team Beastie logo…
…Bouncy blonde ponytail…
…And of course, a set of pure wool pompoms!
While Cheerleader Beastie entertains the crowds with feats of gymnastic skill that should be beyond the capabilities of her short little woolly legs, this more contemplative Beastie has taken up residence in a quiet corner… Meet Artist Beastie!
Artist Beastie likes nothing more than donning his smock, grabbing his palette…
…And painting to his heart’s content! With his exuberant moustache and classic black beret, he certainly looks the part…
…Although it seems to me that more paint goes on his smock than the canvas.
Luckily for him, that smock is removable…
…So he can take it off and relax at the end of a hard day’s work!
I haven’t quite managed to convince him to put his paintbrush down, though.
These Beasties have just joined their friends down in the Creative Collective Shop in Dalkey’s Castle Street… Be sure to drop in and say hello!
Every now and again, Beastie development takes a bigger-than-usual leap forward – often when I take on a commission, which pushes me out of my comfort zone and gets me thinking of new methods and accessories. And this was definitely the case with Diver Beastie! He taught me a lot about diving equipment, and encouraged me to experiment with some new materials in my quest to shrink human-sized tanks, regulators and dive masks to Beastie proportions. So, without further ado, I’m delighted to introduce Diver Beastie! Let’s take a look at all the cool stuff he has…
Diver Beastie lives in his wetsuit. You can just about see the snazzy yellow flashes down the side of his legs in this picture! The red thing hanging from his belt is a line cutter – although he’s also carrying a dive knife (inspired by every James Bond film I’ve ever seen), knives aren’t permitted in some diving sites. The line cutter is a safer tool, which can be used to cut through tangled or snagged lines. It’s always best to be prepared! Diver Beastie is also very proud of his watch/dive computer, which you can see on his left wrist. He also has…
… Felt flippers…
… An air tank…
… A dive mask and a regulator! Put all that together and you get…
One Diver Beastie, ready for action!
Then it was time to send him off to his new home… in Texas! He was very keen to swim there himself, but I managed to talk him out of it… the last thing I wanted was for him to end up as a shark’s lunch. Also, going by plane is a lot quicker. And it looks like he arrived safely! He now lives with two fellow diving enthusiasts, and enjoys borrowing their equipment…
…Marvelling at their enormous human-sized dive tanks…
… And scooting around in a conveniently Beastie-sized Landrover, which also came over from Ireland!
Thanks to Tracy for sharing photos of Diver Beastie in his new home! And to everyone else for keeping up with the Beasties and their adventures – talk to you again soon!
Oh dear! I have been a rather lazy blogger these last couple of months! But there has been a lot going on behind the scenes, and now I have news aplenty to share!
First of all, a while back I selected an elite Beastie crew, which included most of the monsters you can see in the picture above, and sent them off on a top-secret mission. After bundling them up in bubble wrap to protect them from the whims of the Irish weather (and also to keep them entertained on their journey)…
…and tucking them in with plenty of colourful tissue paper…
…we were ready to take a trip on the Dart!
The team was dropped off at a strategic location, and then all I could do was sit back and wait to hear whether or not their mission had been successful. There were tense moments, sleepless nights… but hurrah! On Friday I received word that all has gone according to plan.
And what was this top-secret mission, you ask?
Only a move into the world of high street and online retail! The lovely people at Opening Minds are now selling Beasties on their website, and will be introducing them into their Dun Laoghaire store in the next couple of days! I could not be more proud of my little monsters!
Meanwhile, all has not been quiet on the home front either. Because Beastie Towers has relocated! Beasties, Boyfriend and I have been settling into our new home in a surprisingly quiet part of Dublin’s city centre. We are now enjoying an unprecedented amount of natural light (excellent for making fiddly Beastie accessories), greenery and – SHOCK – birdsong instead of traffic noise! I’ve also finally been able to liberate the rest of my crafty supplies from storage, giving me so much more fabric and yarn to play with. I can’t wait to get started!
Speaking of which, my knitting needles are calling… I should have a heap of new Beasties to share with you soon!
Sounds exotic, doesn’t it?
The best part is that we didn’t even need to leave Dublin to do it! Explorer Beastie was most miffed when he found out that I haven’t shared the photos of our trip to Dublin Zoo yet, especially since he had so much fun posing with the animals. So, to keep the peace at home, here some of the highlights of our day out!
One of the first places we went was the Kaziranga Forest Trail – isn’t that so much more exciting than “the elephant house”? Since I was last in Dublin Zoo, they’ve built a whole new enclosure for their 
group of Asian elephants, which more closely resembles their natural habitat. It’s surrounded by trees (that covers the “Forest Trail” element, then) and there are pools of water for them to swim in as well!
Our next port of call was the African Plains, where Explorer Beastie put his climbing skills to good use to get a proper look at the giraffes, rhinos and gorillas!
But the highlight of our visit was meeting the newest addition to the Dublin Zoo family… an okapi! These incredibly pretty creatures live in the dense forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and they’re related to giraffes. It was a real treat to be able to see one of these beautiful, graceful animals so close to home!
Well, after all that exploring, we both felt a little like these orangutans…
… And we figured it was time to head home for a nap! But we’ll be back for more Beastie adventures soon!
Holy moly! It’s been another busy week… this summer is just zipping by! At least I’ve been able to find a couple of spare minutes to finish off a few new Beastie friends. Yesterday, I sent a top secret Beastie commission to his new home – I’ll share pictures once he reaches his destination successfully!
I also thought that the Creative Collective shop in Dalkey could use a bigger Beastie turnout. Beasties are naturally gregarious creatures, and they’re happiest when they’re hanging out in a big bunch. So I used that as an excuse to add the final touches to some monsters who have been living in my “In Progress” box for a while.
First of all, meet our cover star… Rugby Beastie!
Rugby Beastie is the newest addition to the Irish squad. He’s shown up for training this morning with his own rugby ball and old-school rugby jersey, and he’s taped up his ears to prevent long-term damage…
Uh-oh! Looks like he’s a little too late on that one. And because he’s my first Rugby Beastie, it was obvious which number he should get…
Cheering him on from the sidelines is a lady who usually prefers to stay at home with a good book – Book Club Beastie!
With her mop of blonde hair and natty print skirt, she can easily be spotted lugging another huge bag of purchases out of her local bookshop or enjoying a good read in her favourite cafe. What’s she reading right now, you ask?
“The Great Knitsby”, of course!
Thanks for stopping by… have a monster weekend, everyone!