Alpaca - angora fur - cashmere - merino - qiviut - samoyed fur - silk
It's All About The Yarns
Tom's lifelong fascination with yarns began in Italy where he grew up. A visit to a couple of textile factories and the constant presence of Italy's world-class yarns put in motion an enduring love of all things fiber and fabric. Joined by his partner Jed, Tom has channeled all of that childhood fascination into the making of luxurious beanie caps and Nekkers. Both men do all of the crocheting themselves the old-fashioned way, with a hook and some yarn.
The yarns are core to what we do with our one-of-a-kind Beanie Caps and Nekkers. We only use animal-fibered yarns because they're warmer, more durable and more insulating. Perhaps most importantly though they wick water away from the head rather than keeping it trapped there. We use handspun and handpainted artisan yarns from spinners around the world in addition to some of the finest millspun yarns available anywhere. We do not source or use yarns from China and we no longer use Superwash Merino.
After years of being asked where one could purchase our yarns we decided to start selling some of them and those offerings are found in the catalog. On this page you can see some pictures of what these amazing yarns look like worked up into the fabric that ends up as caps and Nekkers.
Customers in their caps and nekkers
Some Thoughts About Natural Animal Fibers
We use natural animal-fibered yarns in our caps and nekkers for a number of reasons. The most important reason is because we like the feel of them in our hands, on our heads and around our necks. And we like the way they look. From an environmental perspective animal fibers are a renewable source of warmth and protection. The farming of most fiber-producing animals is far kinder to the environment than the production of fibers from petroleum or those that involve a lot of chemical processing.
From a strictly utilitarian point of view animal fibers are warmer and insulate better than artificial fibers, making them a perfect choice for our caps. Also, most animal fibers will repel moisture or wick it away rather than retain it.
So yes, there are lots of good reasons for us to use natural animal fibers in our caps. But more than anything else it's about the way these fibers look and feel. Hold a cap made from alpaca or cashmere in one of your hands and then hold a cap made from acrylic in the other and we think you'll easily understand the difference.
