Custom Knitting Options

At Hobbie's House, custom knitting is our business...and has been since 1975, long before we opened the doors to Hobbie's House of Wizard Wear.

Early on, our specialty was custom made sweaters for children, but it soon evolved into knits for the parents as well!

Over the years, the business focus changed several times. It went from custom knitting to custom sewing and eventually settled on a combination of both... to include group and one-on-one teaching, creation of custom fabrics, knitting of designer samples and sales of knitting equipment.

More than twenty years after our initial meeting, it was at the urging of one of our first local customers that we revived the custom knitting aspect of the business. She wanted a custom knit garment for her grand-daughter!

Since the appearance of the wizard Harry Potter© in books and movies, our main focus has been on custom made sweaters in the form of wizard wear, but we've also received many requests for special designs totally unrelated to Hogwarts© and the Wizarding world.

The "Rent®" sweater and scarf combo featured in a popular Broadway show is a perfect example.

Other customers have ordered custom Anime knits, knitwear from movie and book characters, as well as scarves in their own High School, College, University and sports team colors.

They have even combined both styles of the Wizard School sweater.

So..how is Hobbie's wizard wear made?

Very carefully! Custom knitting takes time. It is not mass produced. It is, in fact, uniquely yours.

We do not compromise on the quality of our knitwear by speeding up the knitting or finishing process involved in making each and every sweater or scarf.

Quality has been our trademark for years but also what our customers anticipate in our products. It is what we demand of ourselves - even if it means re-knitting a piece that just does not look right.

Each sweater and scarf from Hobbie's House of Wizard Wear is custom knit to order - just for you. This allows for customizing beyond the minor adjustments in size and measurements.

Hobbie's wizard wear is not just for costumes! We hope you take advantage of our free service - to communicate with us and ask any questions about fit, sizing and measurements to ensure a near perfect fit.

It is not quite the same as having us take your measurements in person but we can honestly say that, if given correct measurements, your custom knit sweater will fit as close to perfect as the virtual world will allow.

We are not a Land's End, or L.L. Bean, not even an Eddie Bauer where you can place an order, pay by credit card and have your ready-made sweater or scarf shipped within 24 hours. These retailers carry huge product inventories in a variety of standard sizes.

How is Hobbie's similar to these online retail giants?

When you place a custom knitting order at Hobbie's you also pay by credit card. After hitting the "Checkout" button in the shopping cart, you are re-directed to Paypal where the payment phase of the transaction takes place.

PayPal immediately deducts the purchase price plus shipping cost from your account, just as it would if you were making any other purchase using PayPal or a credit card.

You may or may not receive a receipt from Paypal [they've recently reduced the types of email they send out after a transaction] and an order confirmation email from Hobbie's Store to confirm your purchase. Please print both receipts for your records.

How is Hobbie's different than a local retail merchant or an L.L. Bean?

Hobbie's does not carry any inventory. Each sweater or scarf is custom knit according to the specifications of the individual purchaser, after the order is placed.

Turn around time varies according to the total volume of outstanding orders. The current delivery schedule is moved forward and adjusted to reflect this volume. Orders, including custom designs, are completed and shipped according to the delivery schedule.

Our public working calendar displays the status of orders currently in progress. It is edited to show when the order has shipped.

Why Opt For Custom Knitting?

Are you looking for a way to add a personal touch to your wizard wear or create a sweater or scarf which is uniquely yours? Customize it!

Custom knitting gives you the freedom to put your *stamp* on any sweater or scarf. You can customize the width, the length, the colors, combine 2 styles...the possibilities are endless.

Here are just a few ways wizards have customized their wizard wear.

*A Wizard student from Arizona combined the original sweater style with the colors and materials of the *new style* sweater for a really classy look! The sweater is knit in the dark charcoal, 100% wool, with dark blue and bronze colored trim. For the "bronze", we selected an incredibly soft, pure alpaca yarn in a rich, tweedy shade.

*Another Wizard requested a *skinny* version of the trapped bar scarf. We knit them to be only 7 inches wide instead of the standard 9 inches.To ward off the winter chill, an Ivy League student requested the standard width, trapped bar scarf but in the school colors - dark blue and crimson.

*The Wizard Scarf was magically transformed into a Premier League soccer fan scarf.

*Another very special student requested a scarf made in her university colors of blue and grey.

*One customer requested a reproduction of a cardigan worn by one of their favorite Japanese singing group.

*Another customer requested a reproduction of the sweater and scarf worn by their favorite Broadway character!*

*Yet another customer needed a reproduction of a sweater worn by a well known horror movie character.

"I just received my Blue/Silver color OOTP cardigan and am simply amazed at level of quality put into my new cardigan. I want to thank you for keeping me updated on the status of my order and ensuring that I would receive it in time for the movie and book releases.
I will DEFINITELY pass the word on how great you folks are...Once again, thanks!"
Ryan, Florida, June 2007

Even the Sports Team sweater takes on a totally different look when knit up in the colors of a pro ball team.

Here is another idea! The blue and bronze heathered "book" colors used as trim for the "COS" styled Wizard School sweater. This produces a subdued and classy look. Sweater and trim are in 100% acrylic for total wash and wear...ability.

We hope these custom designs have sparked your imagination. We are working on more special costume "knits". Hobbie's House is not just for wizard wear.

Hobbie's House of Wizard Wear > Custom Knitting Services