My Turn to Knit the Sophie Scarf

I splurged and bought two skeins of Cashmere yarn to knit the large size Sophie Scarf. But first, I knit it using some yarn from my stash. This pattern is quite popular and requires a next-to-the-skin softness. Read on to see how the yarns compare.

Sophie #1 – The First Try

I’ve already knit one Sophie in off-white, Lorna’s Laces Soulmate yarn. I believe this yarn is discontinued, and I’ve had the skein for years. I split the skein in half, to knit with two strands held together. I knit it on a size 5 needle.

The scarf ended up 51 inches long and 5 inches wide. (Pattern measurements are 41 inches long and 5 inches wide.). Although my scarf is 10 inches longer, it is just long enough for my liking. I’ve read that quite a few knitters decided to make their large size scarves longer.

Sophie #2 in Cashmere Yarn

After scouring three little scarf patterns, I purchased three sets of cashmere yarn. Two sets are Lang Cashmere Premium, and one set is Pascuali Cashmere Charis (knitting another scarf with this).

The Lang yarn is sold in 25 gram balls, but each of them weigh 23 grams. the Charis is sold in 50 gram balls, but each of those weigh only 48 grams. Is there a reason that all six balls are not weighing in correctly? Do I have less yarn than advertised? Does all cashmere end up this way?

I’m going to start knitting and hope that my two balls of yarn will complete one, large size, longer, Sophie Scarf.

Lang Cashmere

Cashmere yarn is pretty expensive. Two balls of this yarn cost me around $50 and I will probably use just about all of two balls to complete the scarf. It makes a very soft and pretty fabric but, after knitting with one ball, I am not too happy with the yarn.

First, I had a knot that needed to be cut out. Knots are annoying, but they happen. Then, further along the first ball, I had an annoying split. The yarn strand was unraveling (see photo below). That had to be cut and reattached. This yarn does not splice and that means I have two tails, for each time I do this. The Sophie Scarf is double-sided, meaning that there is no good place (wrong side) to weave in the ends….!! I’m a bit perturbed.

The designer has a suggestion for attaching a new strand, and that is to do so along the edge. I had planned to only have to attach a new ball – leaving 2 strands somewhere along the middle of the scarf. I now have 6 tails, and that is thanks to the faults in this ball of Cashmere yarn!

I had to dip into the second ball, and discovered that it was perfect. Ravelry reviewers, who have knit with Lang Cashmere Premium have complained of the same things, so my bad ball is not all that rare it seems. I have two more balls of this same yarn brand, in another color. We’ll see how that goes.

My finished Sophie scarf ended up being 54 inches long. I like to have the option to tie my scarf loosely. The length is perfect for me and it’s a very pretty color.

Now that Sophie is finished, I must get my next scarf done. I’m on a little scarf kick it seems.