A PASSION FOR KNITTING

Just after Christmas 2012, Dorthe Skappel headed to the mountains for a peaceful cabin weekend with a good friend. As usual, the trip meant cozy chats, romantic movies, and a knitting project, this time a simple, roomy sweater made of soft yarn, chosen to keep things easy and to finish before the holiday ended. She completed it on time, and back home, her youngest daughter Marthe loved the sweater so much she claimed it as her own. When featured in the fashion magazine Costume, Marthe highlighted the sweater as her favorite garment.

During this time, her eldest daughter Maria ran a blog. When hundreds of comments poured in from readers who also wanted to get their hands on the garment, Maria and Dorthe decided to share the pattern for the garment on her blog. Dorthe dictated, and Maria wrote the pattern and drew explanations by hand.

Maria was also very thrilled about the sweater, and Dorthe knitted a camel-colored version for her. She was photographed wearing it on the cover of Det Nye magazine.

After the blog post, interest skyrocketed. The alpaca yarn Dorthe used sold out everywhere, knitting stores faced long queues, and hundreds reached out on social media to share their finished projects.

The demand for the sweater was massive. It was a mystery to us how such a simple design became so popular, and the idea that it would grow into a knitting business was unthinkable then. Most trends fade quickly, but the knitting craze around the Skappel sweater proved to be a rare exception.

Customers wanted the sweater so much that they had to learn to knit to get it. After making their first garment, they felt a deep sense of creativity and accomplishment. The initial desire for the sweater soon shifted to the joy of knitting itself. Since then, Skappel has become a well-known brand in the knitting world. Dorthe Skappel hand-knits all new designs, and the brand is celebrated for beginner-friendly patterns and quality yarn—with the promise that "everyone who wants to can learn to knit."