Sophie Hood
I think I just got influenced.
Whether or not tiktok is actually spying on me, I do appreciate the swiftness with which its algorithm learned that I had picked up knitting. It started with a few clips of people sharing knitting inside jokes (counting stitches, running out of yarn, misreading a pattern) and trickled into a whole feed of people sharing astonishing works of hand knitted art. I was particularly captivated by a clip1 of a woman sharing her journey into knitting by jumping from finishing a scarf right into making a sweater, following a really interesting Fair Isle pattern with beautiful sky blue merino wool yarn.
But one pattern in particular (as I would later realize, trends exist in the knit pattern world too) was ubiquitous: the Sophie scarf. The original Sophie scarf (original because there exists many copy cats at this point) was designed by Mette Wendelboe Okkels of PetiteKnit in Denmark. And while it’s labeled a scarf, I would describe it more like a neck tie or folded bandana since it’s quite thin and tapers towards the ends. Construction wise, it’s quite simple, consisting of just knitting in rows to make a garter stitch, with the edges reinforced by an i-cord and a length that is controlled by the frequency of the increases/decreases on either half.
With a relatively simple design that can accomodate basically any yarn (and a pattern that is available in 16 languages), it’s no surprise I saw it everywhere. And though I am typically not one to be moved by what’s trendy or stylish or popular, I loved this scarf. What’s more, there’s a hood version, which I could see myself wearing easily in this Minnesota winter. So yeah, I was influenced.
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Left: Sophie scarf in Cashmere Classic by Cardiff in the color Hermes. Right: Sophie hood in Eco Cashmere Vintage by Gepard in the color Blodappelsin. Images courtesy of PetiteKnit.
When I finished up the Christmas Frenzy, my plan was to get Cole’s socks going. During the shopping trip to the Yarnery for that project, I finally gave in to the beauty of the artisen yarn and bought myself a hank of incredible Peruvian-made Merino wool yarn, hand-dyed a gorgeous mixture of dark blue, teal, and green. In the shop, I didn’t have any plans for it, but the yarn was screaming to be used for something besides a hat or mittens. So I landed on the Sophie hood.
Project Info
Pattern: Sophie Hood by PetiteKnit
Yarn: Arroyo Merino wool by Malabrigo, wabi-sabi colorway, 100% Merino wool, DK weight
Needles: US 8 - circular, to have more room to hold stitches
Misc: quality
The aim is to get started on this project after finishing Cole’s socks. Having learned my lesson with that project (hanks != skeins), there’ll be some prep work I can get done in the meantime.
The original Sophie scarf yarn is a vibrant red color but I think the simplicity of the knitted pattern is a great place for the color variation of the Arroyo yarn to shine. Plus, I want to treat this yarn right – besides the wool socks, every other project has been a learning experience where decent is good enough and good enough is all I asked. But here I want to challenge myself in the name of quality. I take inspiration from Mette herself:
“A part of my motivation for knitting for myself has always been to knit something of just as high or higher quality than I could have bought. Both in the quality of the yarn I use and in the way the knitwear fits me […] because the process is as much a part of the pleasure as the finished knitwear, it is okay to work on it for many hours rather than rush it and not be satisfied with the result,” - Mette Wendelboe Okkels, PetiteKnit.
Update 2/5/2025
With Cole’s socks finished, I knew it was time to start the Sophie Hood. I admit I felt (and still feel) intimated because of my goal to aim for quality… But having gotten to about the 75% mark on the first side, I can say that the way this pattern is written really lends itself to that quality mindset. The basic idea for the shape of the scarf portion is a pretty slow increase with an i-cord detail along the edges, which makes for a really nice, clean look. The way the pattern is communicated is quite different from other patterns, in the sense that you must keep track of exactly which row you’re on because the increases are so far apart and you repeat the same pattern for so long. It’s truly a study in focus, which I feel lends itself to quality because you can’t really go on autopilot.
The yarn is also as beautiful as I pictured, with the color changes being a lot more random but more subtle than the other color changing yarn I’ve used before (which tended to self stripe rather than intersperse the colors). The yarn is also so luxurious to the touch; even though the knit has been somewhat tedious, the excitement to wear it keeps me motivated.
Since the pattern is proprietary, I won’t share my notes like I usually do but I have been keeping pretty diligent notes to keep track of stitch/row counts. After completing one side of the scarf, the hood part is knitted with some stitches placed on hold - I’ve skimmed the later parts of the pattern and they confuse me a little but I’m sure they’ll be enlightening once I get there.
Progress pic, with my scratch sheet that’s keeping track of my increases.
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I searched high and low through my TikTok trying to find this video to no avail. ↩