I first designed this tam in 2013. I was living in New Zealand when the terrible bushfires began in the Blue Mountains where I had been living and one afternoon, looking westwards, I realised that I was looking at the smoke from the fires.

I designed the tam as a message of hope to those who were in the midst of it all. For the first tam I used handspun wool from my sheep and dyes from plants on the farm. This new version, made during the terrifying fires of 2020 is much starker in colour. Instead of natural sheep’s black I have used commercially dyed black wool from Morris and Sons to show the contrast between the fire and the regeneration more clearly.

The tam shows a canopy of gumleaves emerging from fire, flowers growing in the ashes and on the reverse, blackened hearts turning green. It’s knitted (apart from the black) in all organic, naturally dyed 4-ply wool from Renaissance Dyeing.

As far as the yarn goes, the black requires the largest quantity. I had plenty left from a 50 gm ball. The sky blue yarn used is less than 25gms and the other colours can be made up from bits and pieces of leftover yarn. The actual colours can be adjusted according to what you have. With the reds, I used a madder dyed yarn because I was trying to get the pinky- brown colour of young eucalyptus leaves which can also look red, like fire.

You will also need a circular needle 40cm 2.75mm, a circular needle 60cm 3.00mm or 3.25mm depending on how large you would like to make the tam, and a set of double pointed needles to match the size of the larger circular needle.

All money from the sale of this tam will go to the New South Wales Wildlife Information and Rescue Service (NSW WIRES).