THE Redland Museum’s Beanie Tree is blooming again, sprouting woollen beanies in all directions.
It’s the seventh year the tree has flowered in this way, keeping vounteer knitters like Sandra Davis extremely busy.
Ms Davis said the museum had a vast array of beanies on sale at reasonable prices.
“The beanies are all hand knitted and feature a variety of colours and patterns,’’ she said.
“In past years the Beanie Tree proved so popular it was decided to complement it by constructing a Scarf Tower, which displays a number of beautifully fashioned scarves in all the colours of the rainbow.
“In its inaugural year, the Scarf Tower has already had to be restocked, as its scarves sell rapidly.’’
Ms Davis said all proceeds went to the museum.
All beanies and scarves had a decorative Redland Museum tag, which could be kept as a souvenir for those who wished to send the beanie or scarf overseas as a gift.
The Beanie Tree was the idea of manager Hein Olivier who spoke to Ms Davis back in 2008 about the Alice Springs Beanie Fest, now in its 20th year.
“Hein thought it would be a good idea to construct a tree in the museum with beanies suspended from its branches,’’ Ms Davis said.
“These beanies would be on sale and the proceeds directed towards the museum. There is already a variety of craft items on sale at the museum and the Beanie Tree would be an extension of these.’’
Ms Davis enlisted knitters to make the beanies.
“We had a very good response to this and soon more than 60 beanies were blooming on the tree. We have also had a very good response to the appeal for knitted scarves,’’ she said.
The museum is open daily from 10am to 3.30pm. More information on the history of the beanie, which has its origins in Medieval times, can be found on the museum website: www.redlandmuseum.org.au.
The tree and tower bloom every winter from June 1 to August 31.
The museum is at 60 Smith Street, Cleveland.
