New pattern: Bushwalk Beanie

My newest hat design is out! The Bushwalk Beanie is a cute-and-cosy lace hat with a pattern of fern fronds all around. Needing only one ball of Zealana Kauri 4ply, it's lightweight and happily economical.



When designing the fern lace for this hat, I was inspired by the familiar ponga tree - you can see its fronds in the photos above. I recently found out there are around two hundred different kinds of fern in New Zealand. Impressive!

Zealana Kauri yarn sets off the fern frond lace perfectly - it's slightly fuzzy, and gives a nice amount of body and definition to the stitches. A blend of merino, possum, and silk, it's luxurious and eco-friendly too.

From Zealana's website:
"Since its introduction to New Zealand by fur traders in the late 19th century, the non-native brushtail possum population has reached staggering proportions largely due to the lack of natural predators that would otherwise maintain an ecological balance. The consequences of their rapidly increasing numbers are many, including damaging impacts on New Zealand’s native flora and fauna."
Choosing to use possum-blend yarn supports efforts to control the pest possum population, giving our native wildlife a better chance of survival.


Features:
  • fern frond lace  
  • decorative crown decreases
  • nice wide ribbing at the brim 
  • tidy tubular cast-on (optional)
  • easily adjustable sizing of length + circumference 
  • both charted and written instructions
  • lightweight and folds flat 
  • one-skein project

The pattern download for the Bushwalk Beanie is available on Ravelry


All photos in this post are by an awesome photographer by the name of Jos, who also happens to be my Dad. :)
Go check out his website at Jos's Photography & Framing.