General Information

By Hobbies Gatekeeper / April 30, 2018

Reverse Engineer Knitwear – In this series of tutorials and articles, we are going to explore how to deconstruct and reverse engineer knitwear – any item of knitwear.   

A little detective work will have you listing construction details but also sewing or knitting methods used to assemble the original garment.  

Interested in reproducing a sweater? While some assembly details need to be reproduced others do not and should not.  I’m often surprised at how sloppy the finish is on high end knitwear merchandise.

Hogwarts© Styled Sweaters

By Hobbies House / July 16, 2017

Harry Potter House Sweaters – aka the school sweaters – are available in two styles (COS and POA styles ) and in all House colors.

At Custom Costume Knits, we knit and sell reproduction Harry Potter® styled  house sweaters, vests, cardigans and scarves for “Hogwarts©” school uniforms.

Continue reading

General Information

By Hobbies House / July 12, 2017

Unshrink Wool Sweaters –  Washing and deliberately shrinking wool fabric to create felted projects is one thing. 

But when the DH calls out from the laundry room with a cry for help because he shrunk one of his favorite wool sweaters… you have a completely different problem!

Ever had this happen to you? The following article by Aldo Ciarrocchi provides us with hints and tips for the care for your wool sweaters if you have already shrunk them.

Tips And Techniques

By Hobbies House / July 10, 2017

Knitting Pattern Diagrams – They’re literally the “blueprint” for your pattern and there is no specific trick or method to creating a diagram, adding instructions to it or reading it.  Unless of course, the patterns is drafted for someone else’s use.  We’re talking personal patterns.

At Hobbie’s House and Custom Costume Knits, we create our own diagram for each custom pattern and like to have nearly all the required information visible on the pattern diagram.  In fact, we rarely use written instructions. Every detail is written in our own version of shorthand and displayed within the diagram itself.
Continue reading

Hogwarts Costumes

By Hobbies House / June 15, 2017

Harry Potter Ravenclaw Costumes 

The first Harry Potter © styled sweater I knit was a Hufflepuff© school uniform sweater but the second and third were knit in Ravenclaw© colors!

The blue and dove gray of the House of Ravenclaw© ranks as the second most popular requested color combination for our school sweaters and scarves. Continue reading

Harry Potter Knitting Patterns

By Hobbies House / June 7, 2017

Harry Potter Zipper Pulls – As a long time sewing enthusiast, I’ve replaced my fair share of zippers, zipper pulls and even sewn made-to-measure zippers.  

Anyone remember the time when decorative zipper pulls were the rage?

I still have several large pulls that never made it off the cardboard backing and onto a zipper! 

All Costumes

By Hobbies House / May 26, 2017

Freddy Krueger Sweater Colors – Our Freddy Krueger sweater pattern is a simple design with wide stripes and a minimum of shaping and finishing.  

Quick and easy to knit up, this is one of the most recognizable sweaters at Halloween!

The stitch is plain stockinette with the only patterning required being a change in colors to create those distinctive wide stripes.

RENT The Musical

By Hobbies House / May 14, 2017

RENT Musical Costume – Since 2005, Mark Cohen’s trademark sweater and scarf have steadily climbed the ranks of our most popular items of knitwear. Post updated on February 6, 2019.

“Rentheads” everywhere buy RENT musical costumes. So do actors who ace the lead role in productions from High School drama presentations to community theaters across the United States and around the world.

Our sweater set even made it to SNL in May 2018!

General Information

By Hobbies House / May 12, 2017

Turn Around Time – Delivery Schedule

Although we are close to “never not knitting”,  knitting to our specifications does require a certain amount of time.  We also eat, sleep and more often than not – life happens.

Standard turn around time (4-6 weeks) is dictated by the volume of orders we receive from all sources.

Continue reading

Sizing & Measurements

By Hobbies House / May 9, 2017

Posts contain affiliate links so readers can locate the resources mentioned in the article. Thank you.

Toddler Sweater Measurements – A child’s size 3T toddler sweater is quickly outgrown but that does not stop avid knitters from creating Mini Me sweaters in toddler sizes.

In this post, we discuss the Toddler 3 size specifically but you can scroll to the bottom of this page for a link to all measurements for the full range of children’s sizes up to a Child’s size  14.