The mittens

A set of four mittens for one well-dressed hamster.

R360 the set, in the colour you choose. Postage from R60, and free over R675.

A small cream wool mitten with a soft beetroot-red cuff, resting on a weathered pine plank beside an old button tin.

A Whiskerwool set is four mittens, hand-knit by Mara at her pine table in Loxton, finished with a soft rib cuff that will not snag on a whisker, on a wheel, on a sliver of cardboard. They sit gentle on tiny paws, light enough to forget they are on. The mittens are packed in tissue, inside a small wooden box, with a paper slip naming the colour and the dye. Each set is made on its own; one set, one evening, sometimes two.

The wool comes from a single farm in the Karoo, where the sheep are kept warm so the fleece comes off plush, not coarse. Mara dyes it in small batches: chamomile for the pale gold, beetroot for the soft red, and walnut hull for the quiet brown. Four colours are offered, named the way old kitchen jars are named: marigold, rosehip, walnut, and hayfield. Each set is one colour throughout, all four mittens cut from the same batch so they match.

One size, knit to fit most pet hamsters from a dwarf to a full Syrian. The cuff stretches gently; the body is shaped to the paw. A measurement guide can be sent on request, but most hamsters fit a Whiskerwool mitten without one.

Whiskerwool is a small operation, and it still has no cart and no checkout button. It has something better: an order desk, where the letter writes itself around your choices and Mara replies within two or three studio days with payment details and a knitting date.

Choose a set at the order desk and the letter is written before the kettle boils.Prices listed plainly, postage worked out, nothing paid until the wool is on the needles.

Visit the order desk

Will they fit?

One size, honestly

A Whiskerwool mitten fits most pet hamsters, dwarf to Syrian. The body is shaped to the paw, and the rib cuff stretches gently, then settles.

Dwarfs and roborovskis

The cuff sits a touch higher on the wrist, which reads as elegant. No adjustment needed, though Mara enjoys hearing the wearer is small.

Syrians

Snug at the paw with room at the cuff, which is the fit Mara knits for. A full-grown gentleman fills a mitten handsomely.

Between sizes, or unsure

Say so in your letter. Mara will ask two questions about paws and settle the matter before casting on. If a set truly does not fit, she reknits it at no charge.

The small extras below share the box with any set, or travel alone. The newest four came off the needles this month and sat for their photographs on the pine table, like everything else.