The creek/burn is not the important part; the coldness of the water is the important part. Heat, moisture and agitation cause wool to shrink. Remove the heat, and you eliminate the shrinking. Replace the agitation with stretching, and the wool loses its memory of the shape that the factory built into it. The purpose is to make the bonnet look not-new, as having somethinh new is seen as being pretentious, or at least that's what Jock says.
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