Free Time Colorado Flag Hats: Gear you want but don't need

Founded in 2007 by bartender/crocheter Emily Marshall, Aspen-based Free Time Goods hand-makes colorful wool hats. While Marshall has a few home-crocheters who help her out making other designs, she makes all of the company's killer Colorado State Flag hats herself out of yarn sourced from a Nebraska sheep farm where...

By Eric Peterson

April 1, 2010

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Founded in 2007 by bartender/crocheter Emily Marshall, Aspen-based Free Time Goods hand-makes colorful wool hats. While Marshall has a few home-crocheters who help her out making other designs, she makes all of the company's killer Colorado State Flag hats herself out of yarn sourced from a Nebraska sheep farm where it is sheared, dyed, and spun.

Marshall based the hat on Andrew Carlisle Johnson's 1911 design. (I had no idea that the blue, white, gold, and red respectively symbolized Colorado's sky, snow, sun, and soil until I saw the Free Time Goods website.) Other Free Time Goods hats include the Rasta-style One Love and the Vegas-hued Deep Neon, but I really can't get past the awesomeness of the Colorado flag one.

"It's our bestseller," Marshall gushes. "I love it -- it's awesome." Beyond Free Time's stock designs, Marshall also does quite a bit of custom work if you desire something special or have an unusual shape to your noggin.

Available in four styles, Free Time Goods' Colorado flag hats run $55 to $65 and are available at stores in Aspen and online at www.freetimegoods.com.

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