Aran-style beanies for the Alice Springs Beanie Festival

Aran-style knitted garments are in vogue again. Diamond and double cable textured knit stitches look good on all sorts of beanies - from close fitting surf beanies to elegant berets.


Aran-style beanies for travelers - designed and knitted by me for Beanie Central, Alice Springs Beanie Festival, 2008. Pattern for the surf-style Aran beanie is available at Bandana Heads.

Crocheted beanies for Alice Springs Beanie Festival

Every traveler needs a unique beanie that suits their personality. "Johnny Reb" is a grey cap-style hat with bill. Johnny Reb is the name they gave to the Confederate soldier who fought in the American civil war.
"Sedona" is an oversized beanie in turquoise and dusty tans of the Arizona desert region.

Crocheted beanies for travelers - designed and crocheted by me for Beanie Central, Alice Springs Beanie Festival, 2008.

Ear-flap hats for Alice Springs Beanie Festival

Ear-flap Beanies for travelers - designed and knitted by me for Beanie Central, Alice Springs Beanie Festival, 2008. Patterns available at Bandana Heads.

Peruvian inspired travel hats - Men and boys in the Andes Mountains knit and wear the traditional chullo with ear flaps. They embellish their hats with colorful customized motifs.

Wool beanies for Alice Springs Beanie Festival

Beanies for travelers - designed and knitted by me for Beanie Central, Alice Springs Beanie Festival, 2008

Hemp beanies for Alice Springs Beanie Festival

Beanies designed for travelers - created by me for Beanie Central, Alice Springs Beanie Festival, 2008

Alice Springs Beanie Festival

Alice Springs hosts an Annual Beanie Festival where people from all over the world can come together and celebrate the creative form of the beanie hat. The festival supports workshops and programs in remote Aboriginal communities. Alice Springs now has its very own Beanie Industry where Indigenous women design and make wearable works of art.

This year the Beanie Festival was held from June 29th to July 2nd. Creative workshops included Scrumbling or free-form crochet, felting techniques, Japanese braiding, Pandanus twining, free-form knitting, bush lanterns and dilly bag construction using netting techniques. I particularly enjoyed making a dilly bag using the same techniques that indigenous people use all over the world. I added a few bird feathers for embellishment.

We did a few short road trips to take in the stark, red beauty of Alice Springs. Standley Chasm is very accessible. The walking track lets you take in the red rocks, white ghost gums and brilliant blue skies.