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All-season wear, light cool weather days
Year-round comfort, ideal for moderate climate
Cold weather, great for fall and winter days
Versatile wear, comfortable for mild conditions
Curiosa and Limited Editions
Choose your Eastfold, or scroll down to learn more
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The Eastfold is a hand knit Merino wool beanie hat, hand knit in Norway, the old fashioned way, with knitting needles — no machinery. It is knit with a richly textured crosshatch pattern that gives it a unique look. It’s made with high quality 100% Merino wool yarn, developed on the Norwegian West Coast. Merino is famously soft, breathable and comfortable to any wearer. It is a medium thickness, particularly suited for the colder side of spring or fall, and winter. It's knit with no tags or markings, making it naturally a fold-it-as-you-like beanie.
Being Merino 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.
While we experience temperature differently, -5°C/20°F to 15°C/60°F is generally a good sweet spot.
The Eastfold only comes in one size. Because of the combined nature of the knitting method and material, it is already quite wide when you get it, and has the potential to stretch further. It is the closest we've gotten to one-size-fits-all. It is also longer than our other basic models, so it has room to stretch. If you still believe you need an even larger one, contact us and we'll talk about it.
The best Merino wool in the world comes from Australia, so our yarn mill on the Norwegian West Coast has opted to import its raw wool from there. The mill has guaranteed us the sheep are not mulesed.
The beanie’s design is based on a crosshatch knitting pattern, aiming to let the technique and the skill of the knitter shine and be the main aspect of its look.
It arrives as one long uniform piece 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.
The Eastfold is knit with 100% Merino sheep wool yarn, sourced from Australia. It is processed on the Norwegian West Coast, in one of Norway's oldest yarn mills.
Hailed by Norwegians for centuries, sheep wool is the number one choice among knitters. Along with choosing wool because of its historical significance in Norwegian knitting history, there are timeless features associated with wool. And then a few extra perks specifically of the Merino breed.
We have free worldwide shipping with tracking. You can return your hat up to 60 days after your purchase, and get a full refund — if the hat is still in good shape and includes the Certificate of Authenticity. You pay for return shipping, and the refund will be issued once we've received the hat/hats back and have seen that they're in good shape.
You can return your hat up to 60 days after your purchase, and get a full refund — if the hat is still in good shape and includes the Certificate of Authenticity. You pay for return shipping, and the refund will be issued once we've received the hat/hats (and their Certificate of Authenticity) back and have seen that they're in good shape.
If your hat unravels or a thread snaps with reasonable use the first 10 years after your purchase, we'll patch it up, or if that is impossible, replace it. You only cover the shipping costs.
The Eastfold takes us back to the Oslo fjord and the Norwegian East. Of old, the fjord was called the Fold, or Foldin. And the area around the fjord was called the Vik — probably the origin of the term Viking.
The name suits us both for our beanies’ Norwegian origin, the angular Viking-esque pattern, and for the double meaning that our beanies fold at the edge.
Norwegians have knit using the same technique for over 400 years. Each Eastfold is knit the old fashioned way, on the Norwegian South Coast. But this pattern stands out by alternating the direction of the knit, creating an angular, Viking inspired pattern.
The complexity of this pattern makes it about a five hour knit.
Norway made
Norwegians already knit for pleasure, in their own houses, and we have tapped into this existing culture, offering a secondary income for passionate knitters. We don’t employ anyone, but pay per beanie.
The Norwegian yarn mill that supplies our knitters has been around since 1888, and is outspoken and detailed about their care for animals and humans along the entire line of production, whether its imported raw wool, or from Norway.
Leftover yarn from our knits is gathered, and used first for Mom’s Market custom knits, then the final leftover stubs are used for pillow stuffing.
Frequently asked beanie questions
The most common question is about sizing, and it is actually a bit complex, so take the time to read about your beanie below.
There are two most common reasons why the beanie would seem different upon opening it and first trying it on.
Our beanies are knit without a tag, so you may fold it once, twice, or even roll it up. We personally like the twice-folded style the best, and push that look most often in our marketing. The history of the fold is, in short, that the laboring man would need some flexibility in headwear. When you need to hear, or if the sun pokes out, you fold it up. When the weather roughens, you fold it back down. It's sort of like zipping down your jacket when the sun peaks out.
I like to have the opportunity to explain our reasoning before I disclose that it is nylon. We all hate plastic that ends up in nature, but we are using it in a product that is meant to last.
The reason we have 20% nylon is that it allows the yarn to be spun thinner, while keeping the needed durability. This makes these beanies thinner visually, but also a bit cooler, and makes them more suitable for all-year usage.
Other beanies are more suited to the winter, though they all work fine for windy cool days on the ocean, or high altitude hikes on a cloudy days.
We hand knit every beanie in Norway, with yarn purchased from one of Norway's oldest yarn mills. This mill offers both Norwegian and internationally sourced wool. We have purposefully selected yarn types sourced from South America and Australia, not to save money — the price points are approximately the same as for Norwegian wool — but because wool from these climates are softer, and less likely to itch. If you want genuine Norwegian wool, and are ready to risk the itch, contact us and we'll see what we can do.
To most of the world, we do. Free shipping with tracking. There are a few rare instances where it has not been available, and then we select the best possible alternative. These packages also arrive with no trouble.
If your beanie unravels under reasonable circumstances, within the first 10 years of its life, we will patch it for you for free. But you have to pay for shipping both ways. This is a way to maintain the beanie as long as possible, making it a keepsake.
When a beanie is finished, the thread is attached by sowing it into the finished product several rounds. Sometimes that end thread comes poking out — most often on the inside, as we try attaching it that way. It doesn't mean it is coming loose. If it comes out on the outside, try pushing it back in — use a needle if needed. The beanie will not unravel — and if it does, please refer to our guarantee.
We did not choose wool — hundreds of years of Norwegian tradition chose that for us. It is an amazing insulator, with the special feature that it pulls moisture away from your skin. Norwegians have sworn to wool both historically, and in modern day outdoors apparel. You just can't beat the natural fiber that is wool.
It all started with my mom, then my grandma joined the team. My mother designs all the beanies (sometimes with input from me), and we recruit as many knitters as we need from around Norway. But it is always hand knit, the traditional way, and quality controlled by my mom.
We are not sharing numbers, because that would require giving you an understanding of our entire production cycle, including admin time, marketing, recruiting, packaging, shipping and so on. But every knitter is happy with the pay (otherwise they wouldn't have worked with us), and they know the brand, the website, and the final price.
Hand knitting is the genesis and the core of our company. We hand knit because we are here to honor and tell the story of our Norwegian heritage. Generations after generations hand knitting wool apparel to keep their families warm. And the tradition is still alive and well. Also hand knit beanies comes with a personal touch and history that machine-knit goods just can't match.
I (the Son) actually live in Sweden, while my Mom remains in Norway and handles all the logistics over there. We ship large batches to Sweden in order to offer better shipping times and to be able to include tracking in the free shipping alternative.