Each beanie is carefully crafted, taking around three weeks to create and often designed using images taken by expeditioners.
“I get a thrill out of knitting something and imagining who’s going to end up with it. It’s an exciting gift I can send out into the universe,” Hadley said.
“I don’t sell them, I only knit for people who inspire me.
“I think wintering expeditioners down there are very special people. Mawson is a distant outpost. It’s an amazing place that’s difficult to live in and I want to support the work they do down there.”
She started the Hadley Hats Arts Project in 2019 as a way to pay homage to Sir Douglas Mawson’s ideals of conservation and exploration.
Each year’s work is based on a theme, with the artist settling on phytoplankton (microscopic marine plant-like organisms) this year.
A tour of the Australian Antarctic Division’s krill laboratory also helped weave some ideas into the project.