Anneka Door guides climbers up the Tetons in the summer and shepherds skiers back down snow laden slopes in the winter at Bridger Bowl near Bozeman, Montana. She’s a Midwest transplant who came to the Tetons when she turned 18 and never turned back.
And while she’s hardly one to just sit still with a ball of yarn, she likes to engage in something during what would otherwise be idle minutes.
“I started crocheting in the ski patrol shack at the Bridger Bowl where I work and that’s still how I’m making the hats. I just do it on my spare time,” Anneka said.
Anneka launched Teton Toques (pronounced “too-k”) last winter. The handmade wool hats have become popular among her patrol and guiding peers.
“I want to keep the company small,” she said. “It’s just me making the hats and that’s fine with me.”
Each Teton Toque is made from ultra-soft 85 percent wool and 15 percent mohair (Angora goat) yarn spun at the Brown Sheep Company, a family owned and operated yarn spinning mill in Nebraska. Every hat has warm fleece hand-sewn into the headband to increase warmth and eliminate any itchiness from the wool.
“I want to use high quality products like the wool from Brown Sheep Company,” Anneka said. “The mohair is really soft and really nice. These hats are super warm because they are really thick.”
Anneka still wears her original design — in fact she was wearing the hat for this interview. Bright colors are her trademark – they create great contrast with those blue bird snow days in January.
While you can order a handful of different patterns online, she would much prefer to custom make you your very own Toque. Custom orders may be made through Garage Grown Gear by emailing help@garagegrowngear.com.
“Your hat is hand made by a ski patroller in the US,” said Anneka proudly. “And because it’s a super small company, not a whole lot of your friends are wearing Toques.”
