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MIDNIGHT BLUE OR STRAWBERRY RED

Thinner than the striped double-thick beanie, and with a short bill that blocks the sun, rain, and snow. Good for riding east in the morning, west in the evening, and in general, just makes you look sporty. It's the same 90 percent possum wool as the gaiter and beanie, so it's just as soft, light, cozy.

A little background info about the possum wool:

About a decade before the Civil War, somebody from Australia brought a brushtail possum (we have the scary tooth rat-tailed kind) over to New Zealand, and since there are no predators in New Zealand, they started killing native animals and eating up their trees.

They eat more than 20 tons of vegetation every night of the year, and it's the good, friendly, native kind of vegetation that provides homes and food for New Zealand's native wildlife, including the Kiwi. The loss of habitat alone is bad enough, but of course it has the expected consequences on native animals, many of whom are facing extinction now. Even vegan nature lovers would like to see these possums wiped out, but they propagate too fast for that, and so the government has subsidized their "capture" and businesses that make stuff from their supersoft, non-smelly, quite mink-like and warmer than merino wool fluff.

We've sold possum wool garments before, and several of the old-timers here still wear them every winter. It stays soft, washes well (don't dry it), and holds up. It's 40 percent possum, 50 percent Merino, 10 percent nylon.