This is a chunky cap, of that there can be no dispute. It is eight-ply in knitwear-speak, which makes it thicker and warmer than most, and on par with a heavy sweater.
The crown of the cap is tuck-stitch, which is the undisputed champion, at least in these parts, of heartily textured knitwear. It is also a dense stitch, with the strands of yarn folded up and over each other, and so helps keep in the heat. The rest of the cap is rib-stitch: king of reassuring head-clamping reliability.
The yarn is superfine lambswool — 1/14 Nm, to be exact. It is supremely plush and buoyant — truly as soft as lambswool ever gets — and is spun in Scotland using techniques refined over a couple of centuries. Indeed, its finishing involves today, as for centuries, the helpfully balanced waters of a local loch.
The cap is made in the traditional hand-framing method of knitwear production. That is to say, made by a single, skilful knitter, who controls the quality and tension of the knit on an old, hand-operated contraption. It's an astonishingly rare way to go about business these days, especially in Britain.
One final knitwear term: it is hand-linked together. There is no stitching here. None at all. Instead, each little knitting loop, of e.g. the tuck crown and the rib rim, is linked to the next by knitting needle and hand. By hand. Painfully slow and skilful work that equals seamlessness and, all being equal, superior knitwear.
There are three shades of yarn at play here, with a light brown, a dark brown, and a charcoal. They are evenly distributed throughout the knit, as the yarn is twisted prior to knitting. You thus get a good, satisfying melange — enough to keep the eye occupied, but not so much as to distract.
As worn
The young man here, who has a head of resoundingly average size, is wearing the cap and the cap fits him just fine. But were his head much bigger, or much smaller, it'd make very little difference: fits everyone, the knitted watch cap.
Same cap, same man, and crucially (especially for the man) the same head.
Same head, one year older and wiser.
Makers of
The hat is made by knitters in the south of Britain. Founded 100 years ago, they work with small, hand-operated contraptions overseen by one person — rather than huge, automated machines. It is perhaps the only maker to do so in Britain: slow going, but results bearing out the toil involved.
So they say
Watch cap well received today: it is so B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. And I’ve already tested it in the wet and cold Belgian weather. Thanks again for your kindness and availability, and I hope I’ll get a next piece of your collection soon.
Warm words from a warm young Belgian in early December 2020.
The watch cap has been on a heavy duty rotation during this cold January in Montreal. I just wanted to drop you a note to say how deeply pleased I am with it. The cap is truly the archetype of knitwear, and it brings me great joy to wear it each day. As with all your pieces, it has a magic quality that I can’t quite figure out, and I can't wait to pick up something else from you hopefully in the near future.
A merry man from Montreal, owner of a watch cap in lambswool tuck, in January 2020.
I've just picked up the hat, and have tried it on. It is absolutely lovely! Fits perfectly and almost obscenely soft.
So spoke an Englishman in Finland — his watch cap a geelong lambswool one — in February 2018.
