Welcome!

    Here is a little Christmas gift for you. I hadn't planned to add my first post to my blog 2 days before Christmas, but I came up with this soap sweater as a last minute present and needed a place to link it up to on Ravelry. It's seamless all the way around, uses a very small amount of yarn and in about an hour you can have a very cute little stocking stuffer.

Seamless soap sweater

Seamless soap sweater

     You can use any non-superwash wool. Here I've used Cascade 200 Heathers. As you use the soap and it shrinks, the wool will felt and shrink around it. You will also get a nice exfoliating effect. Since I don't care for purling, seaming, magic loop or double-pointed needles, I found a way to avoid all of those while incorporating kitchener stitch, which I love.  Best of all, the recipient will wonder how the heck you got that soap in there. Magic!

Soap Sweater

Yarn - Worsted weight yarn. For best results, use 100% wool, non-superwash. I'm not exactly sure how much I used, but I think about 20 yards should do it. You can really use any weight yarn as long as you cast on enough stitches so that it fits around your bar of soap when stretched.

Needles - 2 size 7 circular needles any length, or a set of size 7 DPNs. You can also use a size 7 circular with a long, flexible cord if you like doing magic loop. Even if you use the circulars it's handy to have the DPNs for kitchener stitch. 

Crochet hook -  size G or similar

Embroidery needle.

Scrap yarn in contrasting color.

Bar of handmade or commercial soap. The bar I used measured 3 1/8 x 1 7/8. Adjust the stitch count for a larger bar.

Gauge - About 5 st/in in st st, 3.5 st/in once stretched around soap.

In the following instructions I will be describing the use of 2 circular needles. You can easily adjust for your preferred technique.

Using the scrap yarn and crochet hook, ch 21. Using circular needle and working yarn and leaving a 12" tail, pick up and knit 20 st in the purl bumps of chain. Transfer 10 stitches onto the other circular needle. Join in the round, being careful not to twist. Continue knitting every row, using one set of circulars for half the stitches and the other circular for the rest. After a few rows, pull the stitches onto the cords and check to see if it will fit over your soap. Remove soap and continue knitting until tube is about 1" longer than your soap. Carefully unzip the provisional cast-on and transfer the stitches evenly to 2 DPNs or straight needles. Graft together using kitchener stitch and weave in end. Place soap inside tube. The stitches on the needle should just about meet up. Make sure there is an even number of stitches on each needle and either transfer to straight/DPNs or leave them on the circulars. Graft together using kitchener stitch and weave in end.

Here's a great tutorial for the kitchener stitch:

Kitchener stitch

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!