The Westcoaster

The Westcoaster is a hand knit wool beanie hat, knit in Norway, the old fashioned way, with knitting needles — no machinery. It’s double-thread knit with high quality 100% sheep wool yarn, developed on the Norwegian West Coast. The wool’s coarseness is below the itchiness level of 30µm, making it non-itchy to the average wearer. It is a thick beanie meant primarily for the winter, but it works well for the coldest days of spring and fall as well. It comes with no tags or markings, making it naturally a fold-it-as-you-like beanie. Being 100% wool, it enjoys the inherent qualities of the material — wool’s ability to draw a lot of moisture into itself, leaving your skin dry even when sweating. It is also naturally anti-bacterial, and can go a long time only being aired out, not washed. Double threaded knit for the coldest days The Westcoaster is knit with two threads side by side on the knitting needles. Something that makes it twice as thick and chunky. The unique knobby look, which comes from the knitting technique is also accentuated by the thickness of the knit. While we experience temperature differently, -10°C/15°F to 10°C/50°F is generally a good sweet spot, the Arctic Circle being the best for those lower ranges. An important aspect to understand, if you want to use these beanies in extreme weather, is that wool is not particularly wind resistant. It is primarily a powerful insulator. So if you are heading into a storm, learn the skill of layering. Wool as an inner layer to insulate you, and a windproof hood outside to windproof you. The combination of these two will offer you the maximum heat. But for most regular winter days, the beanie is enough in itself. Sizing The Westcoaster comes in Regular and Arctic Circle variants. The Arctic Circle is primarily made to accommodate a different style — specifically if you want a double fold to go all the way over your ears. But it also doubles as an XL, since the extra inch of length gives you more material to stretch, and the yarn is stretchy enough for anyone but a giant. People above 60cm head circumference, 7 1/2 hat size, are usually happier with the Arctic Circle. Sourcing the softest wool Norwegian raw wool is available to us, but our yarn provider on the West Coast sources the wool for this beanie from Uruguay, specifically because the Norwegian raw wool is coarser, and is better used for outer layer wear, such as sweaters. The sheep used for our wool are guaranteed not to be mulesed. The design of-, and ways to wear the beanie The beanie’s design uses a knobby knitting style called seed stitch, and the double thread makes the pattern more dramatic. It arrives as one long, tight knit unit ready to stretch to fit your head, and for you to fold as you will. Single fold, double fold, roll-up or even unfolded, are all valid ways to wear this beanie. It comes without any tag or markings, which is a callback to our heritage — when my mom knit for me as a child, there were no labels anywhere. Just needles, yarn, and skillful craftsmanship — and, as we like to point out, patience.