I’m excited for you @Mm25 – I know the suspense of waiting for your shipment to arrive!
Knitting berets was certainly a man's job, its origins lying with lonely shepherds in the Pyrenees of France. When flocks were taken to the high pastures for the summer months, being a shepherd became a very lonely existence. The story goes that shepherds started knitting from the loose wool that was left behind by the sheep in thorny bushes and such, keeping themselves busy and productive at the same time.
Not only did they create woolen beret shaped hats, they also learned how to felt these raw woolen hats by beating the fibers in the mountains streams - thereby creating berets very similar to how we know them today.
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The same situation occurred in Les Landes (a province in the south-west of France). These wastelands of Gascony were great level plains covered with stunted bushes and dry heath that turned into marshland with the slightest rainfall. To walk on stilts became the norm for shepherds and anyone having to travel. These shepherds too were known for their knitting of berets, typically while resting on their stilts, balanced by their shepherd's staff.
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However, when the manufacturing of berets became more of an economic enterprise, it were women who did the actual knitting; sometimes in a shared space of the factories, often from their own homes (until knitting machines were introduced during the Industrial Revolution).
Although it feels still a long time away while typing this on a sunny NZ spring day, Christmas is approaching rapidly and that means longer delivery times and especially a longer time to receive your parcel in time for the holidays. Australians need to order no later than 3 December, while American and European customers need to order before 30 November. Customers from other countries need to place their order before 27 November to receive their beret(s) in time for the holidays.
Christmas in the Basque Country starts with the Feast of Santo Tomas on 21 December, a celebration in which most people go out onto the streets to dance and eat talo with txistorra (a type of Basque chorizo).
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They wear a traditional outfit called the casera dress. For girls it consists of a long skirt and a long-sleeved old-fashioned shirt with headscarves and aprons. The boys wear a long black shirt, trousers and txapela (the traditional large diameter black beret). They wear caseras because that is what the people of the mountain wear and the holiday used to celebrate the peasants who sold their goods in town and came on Santo Tomas to pay rent to landlords in the city.
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In the Basque Country the equivalent of Santa is Olentzero, and Olentzero lives or lived (depending on what you believe) in the mountains, and he wears the boys' casera. He is a mythical Basque character who is widely portrayed as a messenger who cries out that it is Christmas time throughout all the corners of the Basque Country. In some versions, the Olentzero is a farmer or a shepherd. Nevertheless, it is common in all of the tales that the Olentzero brings good news to people.
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He is also known as the coal man who comes down from the mountains on his pottok (wild Basque horse) to hand out presents to children. Chestnuts and wine are given to the villagers. By tradition, on December 24, the Basque television and radio stations broadcast that the Olentzero has begun his journey from the mountains to children's homes.
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In Francoist Spain (1939 - 1975), Olentzero was banned as a symbol of regional separatism. It was only after the Spanish transition to democracy that the tradition was restored to the Basque Country.
On Christmas Day all the children in the Basque Country go to sleep early and they leave their shoes in the middle of whatever room in the house that isn't the bathroom or their bedroom. Olentzero leaves all the presents beside the shoes.
Great video. I guess I trend to the Bilbao style.
I thought that too.
Lookin’ tough @Mm25! Great angles in the way you shape the beret. Post a pic of the label on the beret?
It’s just the standard label.
Good to see, amigo!
During the third quarter of last century, many labels were used by beret manufacturers for identical berets; typically larger hat shops had their own customized label (eg. Gorostiaga's from Bilbao, as per Fern's photo's posted last month).
Awesome, @Daan — thanks for following up. My guy at Gorostiaga is digging through his stockpiles and has found me the French “Handya” that I posted about. He’s also found me some new La Encartada boinas, and the Elosegui 150 Años. I’ll post about those here once they arrive!
Some cool finds. I look forward to seeing them and hearing how they stack up.
John Lofgren Monkey Boots Shinki Horsebuttt - $1,136 The classic monkey boot silhouette in an incredibly rich Shinki russet horse leather. 
Grant Stone Diesel Boot Dark Olive Chromexcel - $395 Goodyear welted, Horween Chromexcel, classic good looks. 
Schott 568 Vandals Jacket - $1,250 The classic Perfecto motorcycle jacket, in a very special limited-edition Schott double rider style.
You are putting together a really nice collection!
Thanks @Mm25 — I give @Daan credit for educating me on all the Basque factories, especially the Spanish ones. He would chronicle when they were shutting down as it was happening and post it here in the mid 100s of pages in this thread.
Ah…the sweet and innocent days of 2017!
