Sophie Scarf

After we got back from our Danube River cruise trip, I was looking for a one skein pattern to knit using the orangish yarn I bought in Germany.

I decided to try the Sophie Scarf pattern which has been popular lately. This is a shallow triangle shaped scarf with I-cord on the sides that is just long enough to tie around the neck. There is a shorter and longer version for once or twice around the neck. When I first looked at the pattern I balked at the price. I thought it was $30.00, but it was Danish kroners, which converts to around $5.00. I was happy to pay that amount. Click here for the pattern on the designer web page, Petite Knit. It is also available on Ravelry.

My 50 gram ball of yarn Cashmere Queen yarn from Germany is a blend of 45% wool, 35% cashmere, and 20% silk. It is very soft and suitable for something next to the skin.

The pattern is all straight knitting with some slipped stitches to form the I-cord edges, and increases on one side. The scarf gradually increases until you get half way, and then decreases to make a long narrow triangle shape. The pattern includes a suggestion to weigh your yarn, and to finish increasing when you have exactly half of the yarn left.

I like this pattern a lot. It is easy to follow, and once you get going it is not necessary to look at the pattern. I used my Twice Sheared Sheep row counter to keep track of when to do the increase and decrease rows.

Based on the pattern requirements and the size of my ball of yarn, I thought I had enough for the scarf. When I got around half way I would have weighed the remaining yarn, but I was not at home where I have a scale. I kept knitting, assuming it would be OK. Later when I was almost done, it was clear I was going to run out of yarn before I got to the end of the scarf. Darn.

I was still working on the project when we left for our second big trip of the summer. Watch for details in my next post about how this second big vacation in a row came about. In the car on the way from our home to the Twin Cities I un-knit a bunch of rows so I could adapt the pattern in order to finish with the amount of yarn available. I worked on and finished the scarf on the airplane.

The scarf had also been getting wider than I wanted, so in order to keep it narrower and also conserve yarn, I stopped increasing and knit even for a number of inches before decreasing for the second half. I also started doing the decrease row more often. I kept knitting this way until I get very close to the end. I was so hopeful this was going to work that I kept on knitting until I used up every inch of yarn…before I got to the end of the scarf. I had to un-knit some rows again and make a sharper angle of decreases. Even with that I barely had enough yarn to finish the last stitch.

The end did not match the beginning and I was not very happy with the way it looked. In order to make a symmetrical scarf I would have to rip it back almost all the way and start over (and use my scale to determine when to start the second half). I concluded it was not worth it and no one would notice, or else it would just be a unique looking scarf. In the next photo you can see that there were only a couple of inches of yarn left at the end.

In the following photo you can see the beginning and the end, highlighting the different shapes.

On the Ravelry page for the pattern there are over 19,000 people who have posted their photos of this scarf. A common way to photograph the completed pattern is in a roll like a crescent.

I used to wear fashion scarves to work regularly. Since I retired, we moved to the lake, and we have been spending three months of the winter in Arizona, I have not been wearing scarves. It is cold in the evenings in January and February in Phoenix, so I plan to bring my Sophie Scarf with me and will wear it there for both fashion and warmth.