Te Hūpēnui Beanie

To add to the sense of community for Wairarapa Wool Weekend we have created Te Hūpēnui Beanie.

Greytown is the host of our first muster of the Wairarapa Wool Weekend and Te Hūpēnui is the te reo Māori name for Greytown. Using this name acknowledges and honours this place and it's people while at the same time welcoming everyone here.

The design itself conveys through stitches, a mix of Shetland and New Zealand inspired motifs. The flower represents the monkey flower, which became unique to Shetland upon its introduction. The koru represents new beginnings and seems very appropriate for the first muster. The grouping of two koru together forms a heart as well as waves crashing against the Wairarapa shore. The negative space between the waves represents a bird diving into the ocean to feed. The crown of the beanie represents everyone coming together in a shared interest, in this case our love of wool.

Anyone attending Wairarapa Wool Weekend is encouraged to knit up the design and wear their beanie during the event. There will be a couple of opportunities for a group photo of everyone wearing their Te Hūpēnui beanie. People who wanted to attend the event but are unable to, can knit also themselves a beanie and still feel like they are a part of the Wairarapa Wool Weekend community.

The beanie itself is knit in the round, you can use double pointed or circular needles, with 4ply fingering weight wool. The design features techniques including ribbing, stranded colourwork and crown shaping. It may appear daunting to a beginner knitter but treat it as a challenge. It should be quite straight forward for intermediate and advanced knitters. But remember... every knitted project is achieved in the same way, one stitch at a time.

To celebrate both New Zealand and Shetland wool, four different colourways have been selected to promote the beanie. A two colour and a four colour version is available in Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift and also in Ashford of New Zealand merino. These are just suggested colourways, there is an impressive range of colours available to choose from in Jamieson's Spindrift and Ashford's Merino. Alternatively, you can knit your beanie in whatever 4ply fingering weight yarn or colour combination that you wish. You may even be tempted by the yarns available from our wonderful traders. 

In keeping with the community spirit $1.00 from the sale price of each pattern, and $5.00 from the sale price of each kit purchased from Joy of Yarn will be donated to our charity partner - Hospice Wairarapa.

The pattern is available here.

The kits from Joy of Yarn are available here.

Will you knit just one Te Hūpēnui beanie? Warning... knitting the beanie becomes addictive, you might end up knitting more!

Follow along with other people knitting theirs on the Te Hūpēnui Beanie socials.

#tehupenuibeanie #tehūpēnuibeanie #wairarapawoolweekend