As winter comes to an end, One Thousand Beanies is going into hiatus, but only until next year.

“With the warmer weather coming up, people aren’t going to need beanies as much anymore,” she said.

“But we aim to be back bigger and expand next year.”

One Thousand Beanies is a project founded by Mrs Brean, which aimed to create and distribute 1000 beanies to homeless shelters in Launceston.

However, the movement took off with people following the page via social media.

Donations of handmade beanies were sent to Mrs Brean from across the country and, in turn, she distributed the items more widely across the state.

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The beanies were distributed to several places including the Launceston men’s and women’s homeless shelters, City Mission’s Morton Place, Hope at St Paul’s Kitchen, in Devonport, and the Burnie and Ulverstone youth crisis accommodation centres.

Mrs Brean said she never expected her campaign to be so popular and, as a result, has exceeded her goal.

“We have 1371 beanies at the moment, but in the next couple of weeks we are expecting to receive more, so I suspect that we will have close to 1500 beanies by the end of the month,” she said.

As part of the movement, Mrs Brean also held craft afternoons at the Door of Hope, where like-minded knitters and crocheters came together to knit beanies for the cause.

Mrs Brean said while there were always people out there in need, one side effect of the beanie days was that they were often good therapy for the maker.

“People could just come together, they might not have a lot of money to spare, but they have time and they have a ball of wool,” she said.

Mrs Brean said a lot of the beanies that were donated came to her house or other collection points anonymously, and she wanted to thank those people who regularly sent items.

“It hasn’t just been me doing this, and I wanted all those people to know that their work has been well received,” she said.

Some of the excess beanies were also sent to farmers who are battling drought in New South Wales.

However, Mrs Brean said it was a small amount, compared to what stayed in Tasmania.

“I am a big believer in making change in your own backyard,” she said.

Next year’s One Thousand Beanies project will expand to include gloves, scarves and baby toys and clothes.