We were lucky enough to time our visit to Alice Springs with the Beanie Festival. They hold it every year and this year it attracted approximately 5,000 entries. Those entered in the competition are displayed in the local art gallery and the creations were incredible. There were many and varied uses of threads and textiles with many being knitted, crocheted or felted and the embellishments ranged from animals, flowers to a beanie which depicted a chess board with knitted chess pieces. My favourite was called "A Bowl of Cherries" and the beanie was blue and white striped with very detailed cherries made from stuffed and felted red wool. It was hard to believe that many of the creations were beanies and there was also an amazing creation of an owl with feathered wings and head and it was made by a 16 year old girl and won a prize. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos but if you check out their web site you may be able to see them there.
In an adjoining room they had a display of beanies hanging from fish netting and they were all for sale. I saw one girl wearing a striking creation of a red and white chicken beanie. Ray was very interested in the wool spinning display.Today we also visited a gold town which is a ghost town east of Alice Springs. It was fun to see the mud ovens and the old bush beds made from bush wire.
We're off across the Tanami Desert tomorrow and won;t have internet access until we reach Broome in another couple of weeks.
Until then, take care.
Jan Mac
2 comments:
What fun to be in Alice to see all those Beanies.
Have fun driving the dessert.
hi Jan, glad you were able to see the beanie fest, what fun. and those bush beds are amazing and pop up in the weirdest places, i've found a few in my time of wandering around. take care...k.
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