I have spent the day learning new english words; trying to learn the language of Knitting! These are the moments when I’m being reminded that my first language is not english, because I was thinking it was going to be so easy, but it took a lot of research and several hours of roaming around the internet before I figured it out. And I owe a big thanks to Strikkeoppskrift.com for their wonderful list of english knitting words and expressions.
The last week I have been knitting away on the knitting project my mom sent me, which I showed in my post called “My mom know’s exactly how to send the perfect Care package!“. And so far I have finished the front and the back piece, but I’m now waiting for more yarn to arrive, because right now it’s just a vest and not a sweater! So I though I would used the waiting time to show all of your how to knit your own “Dorthe Skappel Sweater“.
This is the original pattern, which is made by a TV personality in Norway called Dorthe Skappel. Dorthe Skappel knitted this sweater for her daughter Maria Skappel, who through her blog and magazine interview introduced this sweater to the Norwegian people and started a knitting trend like no other. My mother and I did of course have to be a part of this trend, so we sat out to knit the sweater everyone was talking about, “The Dorthe Skappel Sweater” using the pattern “Mamma’s hjemmestrikket genser!” (Mom’s home knitted sweater!) as seen in the pictures above.
This pattern is in Norwegian, but I did of course want to share this great little adventure of us with all of you, so I have translated the pattern;
Step by step how I Knitted this Sweater:
This is the yarn colors that I have been using, a mix of dark brown and beige, my mom choice for her sweater. This is not exactly the same type of yarn that the pattern asks for, but another type of Alpaca yarn consisting of 15% Wool, 20% Alpaca and 65% Acrylic, which will make the sweater less fuzzy. And I’m knitting on a circular needle size 9mm, to make a loose and light sweater.
Step 1; Casting on my stitches to the circular needle, using both colored yarns as one.
Step 2; Knitting a 4cm long ribbed boarder (knit 2 and purl 2).
Step 3; Knitting back and forth, Garder Stitches, until you reach the desired length.
Step 4; Taking a look at the Front and the Back piece while I’m waiting for more yarn to arrive in the mail!
Hopefully the extra yarn will be here soon so that I can show you how I sew it all together and then in the end show you what the sweater will look like!
I have tried my best to translate the pattern, but if I used some wrong words or didn’t explain it all that well, then please let me know!
– Christine
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I just read about the skappel sweater online and wondered how to knit it. Thank you for translating the pattern, I think I will give it a try. I´ve only made scarfs so far, but this pattern seems beginner friendly. Hopefully will I find some nice wool. Have a nice weekend.
Hello Malina!
I’m so glad that you found this translated pattern and that you will give it a try! It’s really such a great sweater and not at all hard to knit! If you have any questions at all as you knit along, then just let me know and I will go my best to explain! And you can really use any kind of wool, however you might want to knit with thinker or thinner needles depending on how thick the wool you choose is!
Have a wonderful weekend too and fun knitting!!
You’re awesome! Thanks! All my friends at folkehoyskole were knitting this and I couldn’t find the pattern in English until you! I just knitted it and it’s awesome! So simple and the instructions you give are very easy to read. Referred several of my friends to your blog just today because they want to knit the Skappel Sweater.
Hello!!
I’m so happy that I could help and that my translation of the original pattern is easy to understand!! This is such a great sweater to knit and I’m having so much fun now knitting my 3rd one (I’m knitting my 3rd one using a grey/blue Mohair yarn and a single thread, which is turning out to be a lot more work because the thread is so thin, but it’s going to look very cute when it’s done and I will of course make a post about it!)! Hope your Dorthe Skappel Sweater is coming along great too, I would love to see the results!!
Have a great time knitting!!
-Christine
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Hello! Thank you so much for this! I know this is late, but I really want to try and make this sweater. I am such a beginner – just wondering, from steps 3-4, how did you go from 4cm ribbing to larger? how do you connect it to make the large square for the back/front? thank you so much!
Hello Megan!
I’m so sorry that it has taken me this long to respond to your questions, time just seems to fly by as always!:) I’m not really sure how to answer your questions, just because I’m not really sure exactly what you are asking me 🙂 . “How did you go from 4cm ribbing to larger”, do you want to know how to make the ribbed border larger or how to go from the ribbed border and back to the normal garter stick? I would love to try to help you, so just post again or e-mail me at misscrktheblog@gmail.com.
– Christine
Hi Christine, I am halfway through the back…that is, I Think I am halfway. How long is the back and the front? I cannot find that information anywhere.
Can’t wait to hear your reply as I want to finish this first “Dorthe genser”.
– Anne-Marie
Hello Anne-Marie!
So this is the really really great thing about the Dorthe Skappel Genser, there are really no rules for how long it has to be or not. If you simply google “Dorthe Skappel Genseren” den you will get to see am amazing amount of options, both in length of the back and front pieces, as well as the arms and the type of yarn used. I do believe the original Dorthe Sweater is normally knitted so long that the back part it covers your bottom and or maybe even a littler longer and then the front piece is made a little shorter. They also leave a little spilt one the side, when sewing the sides together.
What I have done, because the length kind of depends on who’s going to wear it, is to measure from the top of the shoulder and down to where I would like the sweater to end, and then your have your measurement (this can be done for the front and the back piece, just remember to make the front piece a little shorter if you want that front piece shorter than the back piece). So I have been knitting and measuring my results a long the way until I got the length I wanted. I personally think the sweater looks the nicest when it’s not too long, so kind of then it hits the middle of your button. The length also depends a little on the type of the yearn that your are knitting with. When I knitted my mom’s Dorthe Sweater, I knitted it with a type of yarn that stretches a lot with wear, so what I thought was going to be a short and light sweater, ended up as a very long and light sweater!:)
I hope this answered your question! And if you have any other questions, I would love to help you with them too!
– Christine
If you want to make a large, bust size 38 in America, how many stitches to you cast on
Whats the name of the yarn your using? Witch type of alaska yarn and where can i get it
Hello Sylvia!
The original yarn that is mostly used for this sweater is from a Norwegian company called Rauma Ullvarefabrik ( http://www.raumaull.no ) and it is an Alpaca yarn. However this sweater can really be knitted with any type of yarn that you like, kind of depending on how think or thin you want the result to be. If you look through the different blogs I have written on the Dorthe Skappel Sweater you will see the sweater and how it looks in different types of yarn. My advice would be to go out and find a great yarn that you like and a color that you like (if you chose an Alpaca yarn then remember that you need to knit with a double thread) and then just knit a 20 x 20 stitches swatch to see that the result will look like and to see how many stitches you will need to knit the right size sweater!
I hope this helped! If you have more question, just let me know and I will do my best to answer!
-Christine
Thank you sll for this info. I am excited to make this sweater.
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thanks for the english pattern. I was given 9 balls (50g) of 12 ply wool/alpaca. I am looking for an easy jumper to make and I love this style. Do you think I have enough yarn? would 12 ply be the same as your 2 yarns together?
Diana 🙂
Hello Diana!
I’m sorry for such a late reply to your question, and I’m hoping you have had the chance to fine an answer in the mean time. I get this question a lot together with the question about how to make it the right size, and I find both questions so hard to answer. As for the yarn and the yarn type I would ask in a store that sells yarn, simply because there are so many different types of yarn and they all act so differently. I have now knitted this sweater several times, but I’m still having a hard time getting the sweaters to be the right size!:)
I’m hoping you have had a great time knitting and that your Skappel sweater has turned out to be all that you wished for!
-Christine
Thank you for the English translation, I am just about to start… So excited!
Hello Helena!
This is a very late reply to your comment, but I’m so happy that I could help by translating the pattern and I hope your Skappel sweater has turned out great!
-Christine
Hi Christine,
I really love the Skappel Sweater, I allready knitted it myself. I am making a magazine about knitting in The Netherlands and I would really like to publishe the translated pattern in Dutch. I tried to contact Maria Skappel to ask permission for this, but so far I haven’t got an answer. I was wondering if you have contacted Maria Skappel about the English translation of the pattern? I hope you can help me..
Katelijne
Hello Katelijne!
First of all, what a wonderful name you have!
When I first translated the pattern to the Dorthe Skappel Sweater I would never in a million years would have though so many people would end up reading that blog post! I write the smallest little blog, mostly to show my creative projects to my family and friends, and that’s also for whom I translated the pattern. So when I posted this translation, I will have to admit, that I didn’t ask for permission first. But I do also know what Maria Skappel herself has given people the link to my blog, so she knows about the translation, so again I have just kept it there. I’m sure it would have been a lot different if I would have charged people money for the translated pattern, since the original pattern itself was posted for everyone to use for free on Maria Skappels homepage.
So this is my story and I’m not sure how to help you. The pattern was posted on Maria Skappels homepage, but the pattern was originally made by her mother Dorthe Skappel, a well known TV personality in Norway. So maybe you should try contacting her or her management? or try to contact them on http://www.skappelgenseren.no, a homepage dedicated only to the Skappel Sweater!
I hope this was helpful! If I can help you in any other way please just let me know!
-Christine