Yes It's True - The 10th Annual Beanie Festival is Here

This blog is breaking news! The 10th Annual Beanie Festival is on and it's BIG.

Ordinarily, I'm not a big beanie fan, a small beanie fan, or even a beanie fan at all. But the craze that is beanie-mania (not to be mistaken for Beatle-mania) is contagious, and I'm catching on. Yesterday, I owned no beanies. Now I'm the proud owner of three.

Of course, one can only purchase one's beanie at Beanie Central - a veritable treasure trove of all known styles of beanies.

One must try before one buys, and exercise due caution about the type of beanie one is prepared to wear.

( To truly understand these comments, you'll need to go onto the link above to 'More of Sophie's photos' - I've had a technical glitch and think I've overloaded this entry with too many photos.)

But all in all, the most important thing is to have a beanie, and be proud!

And for Beanie Afficionados, some Beanie Facts:

• Alice Springs is the self-declared Beanie Capital of the World.
• The first festival was a one day event, held in 1996. It's now a four day festival that attracts tourists and beanie-fanatics from across the world.
• Pitjantjatjara people were making mukata before settlement, wearing them as ceremonial headdress made from human hair and emu feathers. Old men would store sacred objects under their mukata (with some elders today still storing modern sacred items, such as their car key).
• The winner of the Beanie Olympics (fastest beanie-making time, with beanie size to cover the tips of your ears), is 13.5 minutes.
• Beanies are perfect for the desert - it's cold out here at night, and humans lose 90% of their body warmth through their head (or so I've heard).

http://www.beaniefest.org