A Crazy Fandom Idea That Became a Reality...

I was once again nominated by dePepi for the Free Spirit Award and the topic she gave was one that I've been meaning to write about for the longest time and as Winter is Coming it's the perfect time to discuss one of my most proudest creations my Direwolf Scarves.

Believe it or not there was a brief moment in time where Game of Thrones wasn't really heard of and during that time there was absolutely no merchandise available to buy aside from T-shirts with the logo on a Stark contrast to what it is today. I had been making these fox scarves for a while and one cold night I thought to myself why not make a Direwolf scarf so I asked my Nan who is the master knitter if she could help me make one and a couple weeks later Ghost was born...

The response to this silly little idea was overwhelming, I had never initially planned on making them to sell (as with most of my crafts) but I got so many requests that I had to call up Old Nan again to help me make a bunch more to sell. It was such an amazing time I was so happy when one of the crew that worked on Game of Thrones bought one and when none other than Syrio Forel sent me a DM on Twitter telling me he loved my scarves I was over the damn moon.

After that I decided I had to make the rest of the pack to so spent all my time seeking out the perfect yarn for each of them as I wanted to make each one unique so then came Shaggydog, Grey Wind, Summer, Nymeria and finally Lady.

Then SDCC happened! My sole mission for that con was to get to the Game of Thrones signing and give Kit Harrington and Richard Madden one of my scarves and I still can't actually believe how goddamn lucky I was to actually do that because it wasn't even a certainty that I'd get a wristband and as I was lining up to go pick my token out of that bag and seeing the disappointed people walk away without their wristbands I was sure I'd meet the same fate but the gods were in my favour that day as I got one of the last wristbands they had.

Seeing the happy faces of all the Game of Thrones cast and GEORGE R.R. MARTIN put me on a high I still feel now, it was like the ultimate seal of approval. Then came London Comic Con and meeting Isaac Hempstead-Wright who was announced the night before I left for the con so I had no time to make a scarf and as awesome as my Nan is she wouldn't be able to knit one for me in a few hours so I instead gave him mine and to cut a long story short I woke up one morning to find my inbox full and this photo the top trending topic on Reddit!

A couple months after that I visited Belfast Comic Con and met the littlest Stark and of course gifted him with a scarf to which he (and his mum) seemed to really like, there is no better feeling that seeing their happy faces. The only people I have left to give scarves to are Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams so I hope I'm lucky enough to meet them someday. I have to admit since finishing my "Direscarf" collection I feel a bit lost on what to make next, I had so much fun making these and they've brought me so much happiness and confidence maybe I'll have to start work on some dragons scarves next...

Love & Knitting

Cate

xoxo

The Free Spirit Award was created by UNOTAKU and Marvelously Mismatched

• Write about the topic your nominator gave you
• Place the Free Spirit Award button somewhere in your post
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Once again I'm breaking the rules because I'm lame and can't think of a good topic but I will open up the tag all of you so feel free to discuss your thoughts on this topic or the other topic and pass the tag on or even tag me again because I really enjoy doing these kinda personal posts xoxo

5 Fandom Friday: Favorite Theme Park Rides

I has been a really long time since I visited a theme park and even longer since I visited a theme park other than Disney so no doubt by the end of this post I'm going to be wanting to book my next trip to a Disney park! I can't remember a lot of the rides that I've been on and it's been that long that I'm sure some of them may have changed, there are also a bunch of rides which I wanted to go on but didn't have the time to like Tower of Terror or any of the Pixar rides but if I ever am lucky enough to visit again I'd love to try out some new rides as well as visit some of my old favourites...

Space Mountain (Disneyland Paris)

Pirates of the Caribbean

The Haunted Mansion

Indiana Jones: Temple of the Forbidden Eye

Big Thunder Mountain

Check out #Fandom5 creators The Nerdy Girly & Super Space Chick & join in on the Fandom Friday fun!

Love & Mickey Ears

Cate

xoxo

Zoo Trippin' in San Diego

Flashback Friday and time to look back on a much warmer time, summer in San Diego. It has been a very long time since I've been to the zoo and even longer since I've seen a panda so whilst I was in town for San Diego Comic Con I just had to take a trip to San Diego zoo to go see those cute pandas again.

Totally unrelated to the zoo but this was my yummy pre-zoo breakfast because my body needed the fuel to get around that huge place, can you believe that we actually walked around the whole zoo in that SoCal heat!? I think I definitely worked off all those yummy bacon filled calories that day!

 

 

I love how diverse all the animals at San Diego are, it's amazing to think of how far they've come although I did kinda feel sorry for that Polar Bear as it was pretty hot out there for those of us who live in cooler northern climates!

How cute is that baby panda? It makes me happy to see that San Diego have such success at breeding Pandas as it's sad to think how rare they are. Seeing this cutie also totally made me miss China and my panda babies so much, I hope I get the chance to visit again sometime.

Leopard Love & Panda Hugs

Cate

xoxo

More photos on [Flickr]

SDCC: Seeing Supernatural at Nerd HQ

My magical run of Comic Con good luck ran through right until the end when I managed to score a ticket to the Supernatural Nerd HQ panel, in past years only Jared had done them but this year Jensen came to. Getting tickets was kinda a nightmare as soon as they went on sale they were listed as sold out but after a refresh of the page I somehow managed to score one ticket,  I then spent the next hour refreshing the page trying to get tickets for Violet and Steph but alas no luck, there were most definitely sold out so I was going alone....

I've watched this show since the beginning and as much as I love Supernatural I didn't fancy camping out for Hall H and competing with the Doctor Who and Breaking Bad fans for seats, and I was pretty sure the signing tickets would disappear really fast in the morning so I was determined to get these Nerd HQ tickets so I would at least get to see them in person while I was there.

I had also made Jared, Jensen and Misha (well technically their kids) some special "Hellhound" scarves to give them, Steph and Violet managed to meet Misha on Saturday for some random crazy Gishwishes contest thing and gave his to him then but my lame slightly intoxicated attempts to get Jared and Jensen to notice me at Nerd HQ failed so no Hellhounds for them :(

Did I mention I was slightly tipsy by the time the panel started.... yeah, I had a margarita at lunch with Yume then got to Nerd HQ early to avoid the crowds of Hiddlestoners that were gonna be there so had a few beers while I waited which will probably explain why you can see me shamelessly squealing on the front row, my inner fangirl will forever be on the internet... oh dear!

Who cares though right? I had a great time and I finally got to see my Winchester boys YEY! I won't bother telling you about the panel because you can see it in it's full glory for yourself and witness the amazing tale of why they were late, Jensen's Russian accent, Jared eating a whole pack of gummy bears and let's not forget the adorable Zac Levi who not only organised the whole shebang but raised a lot of money for charity in the process.

It was just the perfect ending to a perfect Comic Con, I was so happy yet so exhausted by the end of it all but I had the best time ever and I want to go again so badly if only just to hang out with my geek girls so bring on the next Comic Con!

Freaks & Geeks

Cate

xoxo

SDCC: Becoming Brienne & Taking the Iron Throne... again!

Game of Thrones tweeted out that they would have a special event happening during Comic Con so I decided to go check it out, I wasn't quite sure what was going on there and almost missed the building had I not spotted the people sitting outside sketching portraits.

There were four pictures you characters you could chose to get your face sketched on to Kraznys about to get blasted from a Dragon, Tormund Giantsbane climbing the wall, Beric Dondarrion fighting The Hound, and Brienne and the Bear, I of course chose my girl Brienne.

If you follow Game of Thrones on Instagram you'll know that they love their Funko figures so they had them on display for people to instagram and caption to win an iPad, I kept forgetting to do this or would miss the daily cut off time for entries so no iPad for me *sigh*

The Iron Throne was there for people to take photos on and as I'd already taken a pretty awesome photo on it in Belfast I wasn't going to bother but I thought what the hell I have time so lets have some fun, so I present to you THE QUEEN IN THE NORTH!!!

You could get your own house tee printed there for free which I thought was an awesome idea so I got one for me and went back later and got one for The Dad but after my visit on Friday the place got kinda busy so so I didn't manage to get anymore free tees but I did pick up this awesome Game of Thrones iPhone skin.

As well as free stuff they also had some sneak peaks of future Game of Thrones merchandise as well as the infamous Blackwater Bay game I sucked so badly at in Belfast but this time I got full marks so screw you Joffrey!

On our way to get more free swag from there on Sunday we noticed a familiar face getting interviewed outside SAMWELL TARLEY! This was my second random encounter with a Game of Thrones cast member and in the same area as last time, anyway he was kinda busy doing his thing but as we were going in and he was leaving I managed to poke my head around the door and give him a little wave and he recognised me and gave me a smile and a wave back.

So that was pretty much my whole Game of Thrones experience at Comic Con, I came, I saw and I godamn conquered! I still can't believe how lucky I was to meet these guys and I think I quite possibly have an even bigger obsession with the show. Comic Con was crazy but it was so much fun I only hope I can go again some time in the future and that it will be just as amazing a time as this years was.

Next time drunk fangirling at the Supernatural Nerd HQ panel

Bear Hugs & Swords

Cate

SDCC: THE GAME OF THRONES SIGNING!!!

When I heard all my favourite characters were going to be at Comic Con this year I made it my mission to see them! After missing out twice on seeing Kit Harrington doing panels on Thursday and the queue for the Friday Game of Thrones panel already starting Thursday afternoon I thought I would try my luck at getting tickets for the signing...

I came, I saw, I CONQUERED, I still cannot believe how lucky I was to get into the signing there were only a few tickets left in the draw by the time it was my turn and I got a winning one! This was my number one goal of Comic Con and I never ever imagined that it would actually happen, I was so excited!

Between the 6:30am ticket drawing and the 4:45pm signing I had quite a lot of time to kill so after exploring the Exhibition Hall I decided to go find the Game of Thrones #JoinTheRealm exhibition, which I'll talk about later, after I found Violet I took a second trip there for more freebies and on our way back to the con we ran into a familiar face...

David Bradley how awesome is that!? AND he totally remembered me from our previous meeting "Of course you were the one who warned me about it all" he smiled at me "although I didn't quite realise it would be that bad, luckily I haven't received any death threats yet" he laughed. He's such a nice guy in real life I'm so happy he's finally playing a much loved character, I wished him luck for the Doctor Who panel he shook my hand and said "nice meeting you again" and then it was time for the signing.

As we were waiting to be let in Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs to take photos of the mass of people that had crowded around the booth to catch a glimpse of the cast, at that point I started to get really excited I was just moments away from meeting my favourite people from my favourite show ever!

Before I left I made some Direscarves to give to Kit (Jon Snow) and Richard (Robb "The King in the North" Stark" but even before we got into the signing security were all no personal items, you can't take videos or photos, you can't give them anything and keep the line moving so I came up with a Plan B and decided to wear the scarves then just quickly take them off to give to the boys.

As I worked my way around the signing table everyone noticed and complimented my scarves, I told Emilia (Daenerys) that I'd have to work on a dragon one for her and she got super excited and Esmé (Ros) said she would totally buy one off me which was sweet.

Kit noticed straight away they they were Ghost and Grey Wind then I told him I has actually made Ghost especially for him and could I give it to him and he looked so surprised and said yes please do and that it was amazing and he would treasure it forever.

Richard looked so happy when I gave him Grey Wind and I was over the moon that they actually liked them and that I finally got to give my Direscarves to their rightful owners it was just the best day ever!

Before I had to move Richard asked me if I was from England and when he said where I replied "THE NORTH!" which made him laugh and as it turns out I'm actually not too far away from a certain Samwell Tarley as I found out swiftly before I was booted out of the line that we actually went to the same university!

Special big hugs to Violet for taking all these awesome photos for me and although my time was brief it was so amazing to meet the cast and George, every single person I've met from Game of Thrones has been so kind and so friendly I feel really lucky and I hope one day we'll cross paths again, bring on the next Comic Con!

Next time more Game of Thrones fun at the #JoinTheRealm exhibition

Dreams & Direwolves

Cate

xoxo