indoorsy

9 Podcast Recommendations for Indoorsy & Outdoorsy Listeners

April 3, 2019 // by kawestberg// Leave a Comment

You might have caught my post last month called 15 Outdoor Podcasts to Listen to Between Adventures. I love each and every one of those shows and listen to them as often as I can. BUT I also like to listen to other stuff…like some of the favorite feminist podcast recommendations, podcasts about design, podcasts food and body image and podcasts about other things I’m curious about. This is a list of those podcasts.

Podcasts I’m Loving:

Favorite Feminist Podcast Recommendations

Unladylike

I warned you that I enjoy listening to several feminist podcasts. This one is probably my favorite…aside from The Waves. Cristen and Caroline are hilarious, fun, sensitive and amazing storytellers. They’ve opened my eyes to all kinds of things I had never thought about. If you love them like me you might also want to check out their book, Unladylike: A Field Guide to Smashing the Patriarchy and Claiming Your Space.

Hosts Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin investigate how sisters are doin’ it for themselves in spite of all those unwritten but all-too-real bullsh*t expectations of how we should live our lives. Each episode starts with a question that C&C tackle through their trademark obsessive research, stories from rule-breakin’ ladies and a solid dose of delightful feminist rage.

The Waves

I listen to these ladies weekly and am rarely disappointed. Each week they cover three topics about gender, politics, pop culture and tons of other topics where gender comes into play. You can also look forward to their recommendations which have brought me to all sorts of great things.

The Waves, formerly known as the Double X Gabfest, is a weekly conversation about news and culture examined through the lens of gender and feminism. Every Thursday, join the hosts—including Invisibilia co-host Hanna Rosin, New York magazine’s Noreen Malone, Slate Podcasts’ June Thomas, Slate staff writer Christina Cauterucci, Marcia Chatelain of Georgetown University, and Thirst Aid Kit’s Nichole Perkins—for frank discussions about the ways gender shapes everything. Our new name reflects generations of women from the various waves of feminism, the sound waves that carry us to your ears, and the waves we intend to make.

Podcasts about Food, Body Image & Bravery

Love Food

If you struggle with food and body issues like so many of us I highly recommend this podcast. Julie Duffy Dillon approaches food and our complicated relationship with food, body image and trauma in a kind, thoughtful way. She offers great advice and brings on guests to cover hard topics in a way that is gentle and helpful.

What if you could write a letter to Food? Pen to paper, you hash out the love/hate relationship and Food’s undeserving power. Details go back years, to your first childhood diet trying to fit in. In this letter, you examine your dusty Food beliefs and wonder which go in the trash, are for others, and which remain in your heart. What if you wrote this all down and Food wrote you back? This is Love, Food. It’s a weekly podcast series for those with a complicated relationship with Food hoping to rewrite their fate.

Harder to Kill Radio with Steph Gaudreau

My sister recommended this one and over the last month it’s become one of my favorites. In particular I love this episode titled Dealing with Negative Body Image w/ Beauty Redefined – Harder to Kill Radio 183.

Steph Gaudreau from Stupid Easy Paleo interviews the best experts in fitness, nutrition, sleep, and mindset so you can apply their lessons to optimizing your own health and wellness. Discover how to improve your health using a multi-faceted, holistic approach so you can spend more time doing the things you enjoy in life instead of being a slave to diet and exercise. Steph weaves her science teaching experience with her holistic nutritionist training and years as a competitive athlete into a rich tapestry supplemented by the experiences of her expert guests to bring you a useful show. Topics range from paleo, primal, real food nutrition, weightlifting, CrossFit, mobility, interval training, fitness, personal development, mindset work, meditation, sleep, stress management and more to help you dial in your lifestyle.

Do it scared with Ruth Soukup

I’ve been trying to stay away from blogger/entreprenwur podcasts lately mostly because they were stressing me out. Ruth covers business, blogging, life struggles and all kinds of topics and situations where you can use your bravery to push you forward. Her book of the same name comes out in May.
Do It Scared: Finding the Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Adversity, and Create a Life You Love

Do It Scared™ with Ruth Soukup is the podcast created to help you face your fears, overcome adversity, and create a life you LOVE. Each week you’ll discover actionable strategies for greater productivity, motivation, entrepreneurship, creativity, fulfillment, success, and happiness, along with the motivation and encouragement to actually start making real changes that lead to big results. Each week we’ll address topics that delve into those things that we are so afraid of, and how it holds us back in our day to day lives—then focus on easy-to-implement advice for how we can face our fears and overcome adversity in order to create a life we truly love. The podcast will also feature bi-weekly interviews with authors, influencers, and other notable guests who have dared to do it scared in their own lives.

Creative, Mystical and Curious Podcasts

99% Invisible

This is the podcast for people who are curious about the world around them. My current favorite episode is The Secret Lives of Color, but that will probably change next week.

99% Invisible is about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world. With over 250 million downloads, 99% Invisible is one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes and is available on RadioPublic, via RSS and through other apps.

Tarot for the Wild Soul

If you follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my Schmoozletter you already know that I recently signed up for an eight week tarot course called Tarot for the Wild Soul. This podcast is by Lindsay Mack, the teacher of that course.

Hosted by Lindsay Mack, Tarot for the Wild Soul is a weekly podcast that looks at Tarot as medicine, exploring it from a soul centered lens.

It is a weaving of unique tarot lessons, Ask Lindsay episodes, intuitively channeled downloads for the month ahead, and medicine interviews with folx who embody the essence of certain Tarot cards, or live in alignment with the Tarot in their lives.

Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

Have you been watching Queer Eye? If you haven’t you should leave this blog post immediately. Jonathan Van Ness hosts this eclectic podcast that answers questions about anything and everything.

A weekly exploration of all the things Jonathan Van Ness (Queer Eye, Gay of Thrones) is curious about. Come on a journey with Jonathan and experts in their respective fields as they get curious about anything and everything under the sun.

Weekly Must Listen

Slate Political Gabfest

I have zero interest in making this blog political, but I had to include this podcast because some weeks it’s the only thing I listen to. Funny enough none of these amazing writers work for Slate anymore, but they still come together weekly to discuss the weeks news and events. It’s my must listen every week.

A favorite of Stephen Colbert, which should be a good enough endorsement for this podcast! Each week the Slate Gabfest Team of Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson and David Plotz focus their attention on the week’s high profile political developments with their trademark banter, incisive analysis of the important issues of the day, plus a nugget of fun water cooler conversation. Enjoy this entertaining and hugely informative podcast on demand.

Life Experiment: Surface Pattern Design

March 27, 2019 // by kawestberg// Leave a Comment

I live in a world filled with surface pattern design. Some people go for solid colors, muted colors, or subtle textures.

Not me.

I go for big bold graphic surface pattern designs. I’ve been this way since I can remember. Gravitating towards a Minnie Mouse red and white polka dot, picking up the striped t-shirt instead of the solid and drooling over Marimekko fabrics.

You might not know this about me, but I work full time as a book conservator (a weird very niche career that I love). But before I went to grad school to study this tiny weird morsel of the world I worked as a graphic designer. I did this for what I now consider a blip of time. I worked for a special collections library (which is where I found out about book conservation) and I also worked for an online marketing company. Sadly, both of these jobs were very dissatisfying from a design point of view. I was very constricted in my work and spent a lot of time explaining why every design element didn’t need to be shiny and rounded.

Looking back now I realize that I didn’t like working as a graphic designer because I didn’t love what I was creating. I loved surface pattern design. I went through a period where I designed weird wrapping papers and shopping bags. I dreamed of somehow turning those designs into real rolls of gift wrap, but alas it was the early 2000’s and there was no Society6, Spoonflower or REDBUBBLE to upload my work to and share it with the world. So I went to graduate school and left that whole surface pattern design idea behind.

Until now that is.

I’ve been telling myself for years that I was going to get back to that eventually…I know we’ve all been there.

Well, this year I decided to bring that goal towards the front of the queue. I started doodling more, creative journaling, and listening to some pretty amazing ladies.

It was one of those ladies that led me to start a “life experiment”.

What the hell is a life experiment?

Well according to Sarajane Case it’s “30 days of small intentional action that builds or breaks a habit. I’ve decided to think of my life experiments as a way to slowly build the bridge to creating surface pattern designs. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to go from doing zero drawing to creating a surface pattern. For me that was way too big a jump. So I’ve been slowly working to build up the drawing habit to bring me closer to creating a pattern. Here’s a little glimpse on the experiments I’ve done so far this year.

February Life Experiment: Journaling & Doodling

So in February I started doing some creative journaling. I used journal prompts to get myself thinking about a topic or a feeling and once I was done writing I drew whatever came to mind. One day that was Ariel from The Little Mermaid, another it was arugula leaves and dots. To me it didn’t matter what I drew or wrote, so long as I kept doing it.

That concentrated week of journaling led me to start keeping a bullet journal. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t have one of those incredibly beautiful bullet journals filled with elaborate drawings and meticulously drawn out spreads. I have a bullet journal that meets my needs. Which for me means it’s simple, tracks what I want tracked, and gets me to sit down once a day and write a journal entry. I’ve been keeping this practice for several weeks now and have found that I really love it.

March Life Experiment: Draw in 5 Boxes

This month I decided my task would be to draw in five boxes three times a week. Sometimes an entire piece of paper can be really intimidating, so to get over that I break it up into smaller chunks. The five boxes can be any size or shape and I can fill them with whatever I want. Some days I take pictures of things I want to draw later. Other days I sit and draw while I wait for Catherine to get off work. If I’m being completely honest none of these little box drawings are all that impressive, many of them are super simple and uninteresting.

BUT what I love about filling the 5 boxes is there’s no pressure. I don’t feel pressure to create a composition or a polished finished product. All I’m trying to do is create a habit and get my pen or pencil moving on the page. I have one more week of this drawing in five boxes habit before I move on to my April experiment.

I’ll be super honest with you and say that I haven’t met my three a week quota every week, BUT I’ve come close. Quite frankly I don’t care that I didn’t hit the exact number of boxes I was supposed to. What matters to me is that I’ve drawn WAY more this month than I have in many other recent months. To me that’s progress and that’s all that matters.

April Life Experiment: Pen & Ink to Apple Pencil

In my research on how to become a surface pattern designer all arrows seem to point to a tablet and an Apple Pencil. Basically you need a way for your drawing to go from pen and paper to mouse and screen. The simplest way forward that I’ve found is an Apple Pencil. The old Kristi would have needed to buy a brand new top of the line tablet and the newest generation of Apple Pencil plus Apple Care before she could get started. Why bother otherwise?

Luckily the 2019 version of me knew that right now is not the time to throw down a bunch of money on a new supercharged tablet. Instead I opted to buy a 1st generation Apple Pencil to go with my perfectly adequate old tablet. So on Sunday I handed over just over $100 instead of giving away a month’s pay and I’m ready for my April life experiment.

In April I’m going to spend some time figuring out how to use Procreate (thank you Skillshare!) and take a few of my drawings and get them ready to turn into patterns.

My impulse is to jump ahead and say I’m going to create several patterns in April, but I know myself and sticking will these smaller goals will mean I get closer to achieving the ACTUAL big goal. So I stand by my statement. My plan for April is to continue drawing twice a week and spend some time learning Procreate. Drawings can be in my sketchbook or on the tablet, either way seems fun to me.

Summing Up

I realize this is a weird off topic post for this outdoorsy blog. Most people who come by my little corner of the internet are much more interested in my perfect road trip recommendations or what I thought about a campsite.

But I am called the indoorsy camper so you can also find out about books I love and why I think creativity should be part of your life. You can expect updates on this life experiment at the end of each month. It’s like my monthly income & traffic reports…but way more fun.

I also encourage you to start a life experiment of your own. In my humble opinion they’re way better than a New Year’s Resolution (which I’ve already established that I hate). If you do decide to start your own experiment let me know about it in the comments. Sometimes telling one person about your little adventure can make you feel more accountable, which is essentially why I’ve written this post. I’m happy to do the same for you.

The Importance of Creativity in Your Daily Life

January 24, 2019 // by kawestberg// 2 Comments

Did you do something creative today?

Chances are you did, even if you’re one of those people who claims you “aren’t a creative person”. While it might seem frivolous to some I cannot stress the importance of creativity in your daily life.

Creativity makes us human, it makes our lives more fulfilling, it allows us to give and share with others and it can help with everyday life problems.

Everyone is creative.

Even my dad who is always saying to me, “you and your mom are the creative ones”. When in reality he was creative enough to build a business, creative enough to get his three daughters interested in playing basketball and creative enough to become a hobby rabbit breeder.

Creativity isn’t just painting, drawing, or coming up with something tangible. Creativity is figuring your way around a road block. It’s being innovative. Hell, it’s even stealing someone else’s idea, flipping it and reversing it into something new.

The Importance of Creativity

As a kid I didn’t really understand the importance of creativity. I took creativity for granted. It was there everyday in my life. I was one of those kids who asked to go to Michael’s instead of going to the toy store. I loved walking down the aisles looking at all the potential craft projects I could make.

My friend Neesha and I spent many weekends “doing stamps”. Together we created an endless supply of custom cards, bookmarks, stationary and anything else we could stamp. The two of us also went through a concho necklace period which oddly enough are now kind of in fashion. Did you click on the concho necklace link back there? Because if you didn’t I’ll give you a chance to do that now…it’s displayed on a paper towel and looks exactly like one I made back in the 90’s.

I’m not telling you stories of my childhood to brag or anything, although I’m sure you are dying for a concho necklace of your very own. I’m telling you about these little projects to illustrate the importance of creativity in your daily life. The time I spent making cards, necklaces, painted boxes and embroidering helped to shape who I am today.

Each of those projects allowed me to step away from life requirements. Cleaning, cooking, going to school, going to work, family commitments, you name it. It was time I got to play, be silly, imagine new things and re-imagine old things.

The good news is even if you haven’t spent your life up to this point doing creative work there’s still plenty of time. Whether you’re a life long creative or a person who struggles to even fold a piece of paper in three there’s room for you to add creativity to your life.

How to Add Creativity to your Daily Life

Find a doable project. While I always encourage people to reach far, this first project should be more simple and achievable. Maybe you start a class through Skillshare or find a short creativity challenge. Maybe there’s a recipe you want to cook, a knitting pattern you’ve always wanted to try or a problem you’ve been wanting to solve. Creativity doesn’t always mean making something physical. Solving a problem creatively is a great way to start. The most important thing is to make it doable for you.
Be kind to yourself. Doing something new isn’t always easy. Odds are you’ll need to do some practicing. Your first project might be a hot mess, but at least you started. Elizabeth Gray didn’t just start lettering and become an Instagram gem, she had to practice A LOT to get where she is today. So be kind to yourself and make sure you build in time to practice.
Take your time. As you start this creative project make sure you allow yourself plenty of time to work through the process. It’s not a race. And if you decide you aren’t feeling it cut yourself some slack. Either give yourself a break and return to the project when you’re in a better place or let it go and move forward. Creative work is supposed to spark joy (as Marie Kondo would say), if it doesn’t don’t keep that project around.

Still not convinced of the importance of creativity in your daily life?

Here’s a few simple ways you can add it in to get you started.

Take one picture a day with your phone.
Start a one sentence a day journal (it could even be a note in your phone).
Pick out a new recipe to try one day of the week.
Go to a coffee shop with just a notebook and a pen…see what happens.
Write a letter to a friend.
Make a little video and post it to social media.

No matter what you decide to do to increase your creativity, remember to make it doable, be kind to yourself and be patient. Creativity should bring you balance, get you excited or bring you calm, not make you stressed out. If you’re feeling stressed maybe you need a different project. Don’t be afraid to set down a project and return to it when you’re ready.

If you decide to start a project let me know. Leave a comment or tag me in an Instagram post.

Stop Making New Year’s Resolutions: Instead Set One Small Goal

January 1, 2019 // by kawestberg// Leave a Comment

A new year is so intoxicating. One night’s sleep and poof you get to start over again.

Generally I hate New Year’s Resolutions. I find them to be suffocating and depressing. I’ve been known to make huge un-achievable goals that generally get abandoned somewhere around January 21st. Pretty sure I’m not the only one…right?

Which is why I’m going to encourage you to make a New Year’s Resolution if you want to, but to make it small. Make is something achievable. Make it something that’s not about the scale or the number of times you’re gonna to hit the gym. While you’re at it forget about making huge dietary changes.

Make your 2019 New Year’s Resolution about finding a new adventure. Make it about learning something new. Make it about starting a creative project.

The reason I think you should make a small goal is because you never know where that one small step is going to take you.

In 2018 I made one small goal. I had been watching several people on Instagram work their way through the 52 Hike Challenge. For those who haven’t heard about it, it’s a genuinely lovely idea, and to put it in a nutshell it amounts to you hiking once a week for a year.

The old me would have jumped right on that bandwagon and vowed to hike once a week in 2018. Luckily, the more realistic me set a goal that was achievable for ME.

Hike at least once per month in 2018.

It’s not as sexy as the 52 Hike Challenge, but for me it was a goal that I was more confident I could achieve, and I’m very happy to say that I did!

This one small goal led me to start several other new projects and endeavors, namely camping and eventually this blog.

Since writing my first post in April 2018 Catherine and I have gone camping in Death Valley, Joshua Tree and Leo Carrillo. We’ve hiked to waterfalls, abandoned bridges and to a place called Mount Disappointment (fantastic name right?!).

At the same time my interest in other creative work started to increase. All that fresh air got me taking more pictures, which inspired me to finally pick up a brush and start water coloring. That got me wanting to practice my drawing and even made me remember back to my college days when all I wanted to do was be a wrapping paper designer (seriously, I designed many sheets of wrapping paper…and several Nordstrom shopping bags).

So why am I telling you this long drawn out story? Because that one small goal led to all of these other things.

Since starting this whole Indoorsy Camper thing I’ve come to three realizations.

I’m happier when I get to spend time outdoors
I’m happier when I get to create (something! anything!).
I need balance.

I can almost guarantee that if I had proceeded with the 52 Hike Challenge I would have quit early. Then I would have felt disappointed and ashamed and would have never unearthed the creative parts of myself. Plus I wouldn’t have realized that I need balance in my outdoor and indoor life.

While I totally understand that a New Year inspires all of us to reach further, remember that it is also a moment to reflect on how your 2018 went. Then make one small goal for 2019.

One small goal doesn’t have to be the end of it. I’d be willing to guess that that one small goal will start a chain of events that you haven’t even thought about.

Best Blogging Tools for Beginners

December 27, 2018 // by kawestberg// Leave a Comment

Starting a blog can be exciting and totally overwhelming at the same time. There is a LOT of information out there on how to do it. It’s easy to get stuck in information gathering mode; signing up for courses, joining Facebook groups, listening to podcasts and reading so much information your face turns blue.

I felt this way when I started Indoorsy Camper. To be perfectly honest I still fall into the information trap from time to time. Even though this blog is new, I’ve learned a couple things along the way and wanted to share a list of my favorite blogging tools for beginners.

Rather than bombard you with all the tools, this post going to hone in on plug-ins. There’s a lot of plug-ins out there and it can be tough to decide which ones are worth using. I use all of these on my own blog. I wouldn’t have found many of them without the help of other bloggers, podcasters and content creators who kindly shared their not so secret “secrets”. Which is why I am committed to transparency when it comes to Indoorsy Camper. I really believe that there’s an audience out there for everyone and that a scarcity mindset will only hinder my and others success. So here’s my current top 9 plug-ins. I hope they help other outdoor bloggers…or any beginner blogger for that matter.

Free Blogging Tools: Plug-ins

Custom Sidebars: This simple plug-in lets you create custom sidebar configurations to place in the widget area of your pages or posts. For example, look at the sidebar on this page, now click over to my Gift Guide page and see the difference between the two. On the gift guide page I’ve left off my bio and changed the top posts widget to only show my other gift guides.
Forget about Short Code Buttons: I’m no expert at HTML or any other coding languages, but I really wanted to add buttons to a post I wrote about lodging options at the Grand Canyon. One Google search and several reviews led me to the Forget about Short Code Buttons plug-in. I’ve been very happy with how easy it is to create customized buttons and add them to my posts.
MonsterInsights: If you have any interest in knowing how readers are interacting with your blog you’re gonna need to set up Google Analytics. There’s plenty of ways to do this, but I found MonsterInsights to be a quick and easy way to connect my Google Analytics account to my blog. No technical knowledge needed, just follow the setup prompts and you’re done!
Yoast SEO: While we’re talking about analytics, you may as well download Yoast SEO. It comes in a free or paid version (I haven’t bothered to spring for the paid version). It helps you optimize keywords, reviews your content for readability and is always updated for Google’s algorithm.
Instagram Feed: If you didn’t know I’m a BIG fan of Instagram! It’s where I feel I can be the most open (aside from my newsletter of course) and really engage with my people. The Instagram Feed plug-in is easy to install and lets your blog readers easily find you on the gram.
Social Warfare: This plug-in makes it easy for mobile users to pin and share your posts to Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and several other social sharing networks. I love this plug-in, it’s easy, the buttons load quickly and they look clean on my site.

Paid Plug-ins for Beginner Outdoor Bloggers

*This links to these plug-ins are affiliate links. Which means I make a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

EWWW Image Optimizer: We all want big beautiful images in on our blog pages and inside our blog posts. BUT those come with a price. They can slow down your website and lead to readers clicking away because they don’t want to wait. This can damage your conversion rates and lower your search engine rankings. EWWW Image Optimizer automatically optimizes new images. Plus it allows you to go back and convert your old images to the best file format with no visual loss.
MiloTree: You may not like pop-ups, but the truth is they work. You can get MiloTree up and running in two minutes flat. It can be integrated with Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest or your email subscriber. You choose the accounts you want to feature, how often you want the pop-up to appear, how you want it to look and boom, you’re done.
Tasty Pins: Tasty Pins was created for food bloggers, but that doesn’t mean other types of blogs can’t benefit. It might seem surprising, but Pinterest is the number one driver of traffic to my blog. That means I need my images to be beautiful and include my keyword rich Pinterest description. Tasty Pins lets you add your image descriptions and alt text right inside your blog. It also allows you to have multiple hidden images that are force pinned. It’s probably my favorite plug-in on the entire list! It’s a game changer.

There you have it, my nine favorite plug-ins, for the moment anyway. Do you have any other plug-ins you love? Comment below and tell me about them.

10 National Park Inspired Knitted Beanie Patterns You Need to See

November 20, 2018 // by kawestberg// Leave a Comment

For those of you who follow along on Instagram you may remember the fabulous knitted national park inspired hat patterns I featured by Designs by Nancy Bates. I love IG stories, but they’re fleeting and didn’t give the amazingly talented Nancy the credit she is due.

She has a pretty dreamy job. She visits National Parks and lets the landscape inspire her designs, not a bad work environment. You can follow along on her travels on her Instagram @nancybatesdesigns.

I’m not sure how many more parks she’s planning to add to her library, but as of right now she has 10 National Park inspired hat patterns to choose from and let me tell you it’s gonna be a tough choice.

I’m torn between Bryce Canyon and Grand Teton at the moment, but my dilemma changes almost daily. Each hat is knit in the round and has varying levels of difficulty.

Grand Teton National Park Beanie

I am in LOVE with this Grand Teton hat! I must admit that Grand Teton is a little lower on my ‘to visit’ list. What makes this hat perfect for me are the little yellow flowers along the bottom. As someone who is no fan of the cold this little pop of color helps me forget the icy peaks above and makes me want to jump in the car to check it out for myself.

Yellowstone National Park Beanie

I’ve never been to Yellowstone, but these are exactly the colors I imagine when anyone mentions the place. Nancy was inspired by the Grand Prismatic Spring. Here she beautifully adds together the the warm and cool colors of the hot spring. If you visit her Etsy shop you can also see a version with a wispy white pom pom in honor of the steam rising off the top.

Great Smoky Mountians National Park Beanie

My sister visited the Great Smoky Mountains last summer and I was unbelievably jealous of all her pictures of lush green waterfalls and cool misty sunsets. Photos of the mountains from far away always have this Vaseline on the lens quality with softened edges, blue gray mist and green forest. I love how soft and cozy this one looks, plus it’s kind of my colors.

Joshua Tree National Park Beanie

If you’ve ever driven to Joshua Tree you know when you’re getting close because the iconic tufted trees start to pop up on the side of the highway. When I look at the Joshua Tree landscape I know where Dr. Seuss got some of his inspiration. Nancy creates a softer less prickly version using cables and bobbles. It’s a total success.

Bryce Canyon National Park Beanie

This park just might be my absolute favorite. I can’t say for sure yet because I haven’t visited every National Park, but as of right now it’s pretty much number one. The bright orange rock set against the clear blue skies make for the perfect color combination. The park is otherworldly, weird, strange and full of legend. If you ever have a chance to visit go!

Sequoia National Park Beanie

I live a short 3.5 hour car ride away from Sequoia and still I haven’t made it there yet. John Muir called these trees immortal and at over 2,000 years old they may as well be. With trunks as tall as a 26-story building and as wide as a city street they are awe inspiring. One of these days I’ll make it over there to see General Sherman and General Grant, in the meantime this Sequoia National Park hat is a pretty great substitute.

Death Valley National Park Beanie

I knew this one was Badwater Basin before I even looked at the title. With miles of flat cracked earth Badwater Basin looks like another planet. It’s the lowest point in North America, at 282 feet below sea level. This huge flat expanse used to be covered in salty water, but today it stands as an immense salt flat with expanding crystals creating the unusual shapes in the surface. The hat is a perfect rendition of this stark haunting landscape.

Everglades National Park Beanie

Imagine you’re floating through a mangrove forest. The tree roots are visible above and below the water’s surface. The water reflects the trees like a mirror making it seem like they’re growing above as well as below the surface. That’s exactly the image happening in this Everglades National Park hat.

Grand Canyon National Park Beanie

The trip I mentioned earlier to Bryce Canyon also included several days at The Grand Canyon, specifically in the Grand Canyon Lodge (it’s a must if you can swing it). I loved staying right on the south rim so we could enjoy the canyon nearly every moment of the day.

We watched several sunrises and sunsets. The colors and textures of the Grand Canyon are always changing, just like the colors and textures in this Grand Canyon National Park hat. It’s pretty much the perfect symbolism for the park.

Olympic National Park Beanie

Last but not least there’s this Olympic National Park hat. Situated in the lush green Pacific Northwest, Olympic is filled with dramatic peaks, old-growth forest and rainforest. I’ve never visited myself, but the many pictures I’ve seen are always VERY green, just like this fern patterned beanie.

With so many beautiful patterns to choose from it’s difficult to know where to start. When I was as Stitches SoCal HOKC (Hands On Knitting Center) had kits made up for most of the patterns.

If you’re looking for a gift it could be a great one. Head over to @handsonknittingcenter on Instagram and send them a DM or visit their website to see if they still have kits in stock.

While I have you here, if you’re looking for another gift for a National Park lover you should check out these: