Sophie’s Alternate Universe is an extension/modification of Sophie’s Universe, created by my friend Sonja Hollands. Sonja needed to make Sophie much larger, so she flipped her through 90 degrees again and added four half-gardens to create a ginormous Alternate Universe. It is a whopping 200cm x 200cm!
Photos by Sonja Hollands
I am delighted to present you with Sonja’s instructions for creating your own Alternate Universe. Before we start, I would like Sonja to share a little bit about her journey, but before we get to that, I need to tell you one very important thing: This is NOT a complete pattern, but an add-on. You will still need the instructions for Sophie’s Universe in order to create this ‘Alternate Universe’. Sonja’s instructions have not been tested and there are no step-by-step photos.
That having been said, Sonja and I have spent the majority of the past 2 weeks trying to make her instructions as easy as possible to follow. By the time you need to implement the repeats/changes to create the alternate universe, you will already have made the first 89 Rounds of Sophie’s Universe, so you will be familiar with all the stitches and techniques used.
If you are in a hurry, scroll past the interview to ‘Instructions for Creating Sophie’s Alternate Universe‘ at the bottom of this post. You will find the PDF there.
Sonja and Her Alternate Universe
When Did You Start Working on Sophie?
My friend and neighbour Hélène and I share a love for crochet, so we get together at least once a week to crochet together. We both loved Sophie’s Garden, so when the Universe CAL was announced, we just had to make it. We started on February 21 (the day after my birthday).
I was in Spain the week before to celebrate my and my mums birthday (the 13th). I got back in the early afternoon on the 21st and that evening we started our journey.
When Did You Decide to Make the Alternate Universe?
I initially thought Sophies Universe would fit on my queen-sized bed with only adding a few extra rounds. I was constantly running at least 5 weeks behind so I could see what was coming. By the time I reached Round 90 and saw all the finished Sophies appear, I realised I would have to add so many extra rounds to make her fit, it would ruin the design too much.
The first idea was to repeat all the rounds from 35 and up, but keep Sophie in a square. But I also loved the pretty flowers on the short side so I decided to make the turn again. And I had to repeat all the rounds anyway to make length, so there I went.
When I reached Round 80, I ended with an octagon and couldn’t use the squaring off rounds from the pattern, because they didn’t fit.
I needed 4 triangles to fill up four sides to square up my Sophie again. I decided on trying to make half a Sophie’s Garden (diagonal) as a triangle. It took me a few days to figure out how to make it fit. I even went into a yarn shop with my half Sophie (because I thought I should make it separate first) to get help. The half Sophie I made was not flat on the bottom. Turned out I forgot to increase, but I finally got it figured out without the corners bulging or stretching the whole piece.
I was so proud that I got to alter Sophie successfully that I wanted to alter her name too. That’s how I got to name her Sophie’s Alternate Universe.
Hélène is doing the same alteration at the moment and hers is dubbed Sophie’s Parallel Universe. ;)
When Did You Finish?
I took a 2-month break from Sophie during the summer because I was either busy or it was too hot to have her on my lap. I finished her in the first week of January this year, so that was almost a full year.
What Would You Have Done Differently?
Nothing, I guess. I loved making her.
How Many Hours Did It Take You?
That’s hard to say. Hélène and I get together at least once a week, so that’s at least 3 hours times 40, but a crochet evening includes chat, wine and snack breaks, so maybe we get 2 and a half hours effective crocheting done ;)
But there have been a lot of crochet-a-thons too. Netflix and crochet…some series were easy to crochet along to, since the audio/dialogues were enough. Some weren’t, like the Danish ones where I had to read subtitles.
If I have to make a wild guess, I’d say under 200 hours. I know in the end, making Bettys Beautiful Border, it took me at least 2 hours to complete a round.
Sonja’s Gorgeous Cat ‘Memphis’
Instructions For Creating Sophie’s Alternate Universe
If you would like to make Sophie’s Alternate Universe, you can download Sonja’s FREE PDF HERE. Please note that the PDF has been edited. The latest version is v6.
You can find the Dutch PDF HERE.
You will still need to access the instructions for Sophie’s Universe in order to complete your Alternate Universe.
This blog post contains affiliate links. I only link to products I personally use or would use. All opinions are my own.
Dorothy Mathias says
Dedri thank you for such a great pattern. I am making the extension with sophies alternate universe and find that I do have 121 stitches in Round 25. But in Round 26 I would need 181 stitches. Am I going wrong somewhere. Need your help please.
Jenny Lowman says
Dorothy, I would contact Sonja Hollands for queries about the extension of Sophie :)
Dorothy Mathias says
Dedri so sorry but I do not have contact details for SOnja. Please can you share with me. Much thanks
Jenny Lowman says
You can find her on Facebook via this post
HERE
Maybe you will be able to private message her there.
Jenny
Luanne Sarkisian says
I am going to attack the alternate universe in a dk weight. 100% cotton. I also have a queen size bed and I figure if Im going to so this I may as well do it all the way. I realize I wont get the same gauge but it shouldnt be too far off & I can always do something to make it larger! Also only using half the colors. Should be an interesting time!
Dedri Uys says
Ooh, that sounds great. I hope you will share some photos with us :)
Lorie says
Hi Dedri, I was 2ondering if you or anyone else has done Sophie in thread and what the overall size was when finished. Thank you.
Dedri Uys says
Hi. Geneva-Kae made one and I shared it on my blog HERE. Or do you mean something slightly thicker than sewing thread?
Gail Miller says
Hi Dedri,,, first I want to say Sophie is a beautiful blanket. I haven’t crochted in many years and after seeing Sophie I’m crocheting again and all ready planning my second Sophie. I love your colors in the green Sophie. Is there a link to the materials for the Green Sophie. Also I’d like to say we have no place in the USA that sells your book. I think the books would fly off the shelves. Last one I saw on Amazon was going for 55 dollars. Greed….. I’ll have to purchase from wool warehouse this time. Best wishes …….. Gail
Dedri Uys says
Hi Gail. Are you talking about THIS VERSION? If so, it was made in Stonewashed XL Crystal Quartz. There is a list of retailers (for the book) at the bottom of THIS POST. I don’t know who was selling one for 55 dollars, but that is very naughty!
Wool Warehouse is really reasonable and their customer service is brilliant. I hope you manage to find one soon :)
Dedri
Paula says
Hi my name is paula I have just started to follow patterns etc
I know a lot of basic stitches, I’m now up to round 22 of Sophia’s garden
But this is where I’m lost
I can’t work out how to join the petals together
I have had about 20 different attempts
And still no good ,
I can get the first bit done ( * to* but then I don’t have my right hand side petal
And I don’t know how to make them join at the top
Please help
A staggering crochet beginner in Australia
Dedri Uys says
Hi Paula. I’m sorry to hear that you are struggling with that bit, but very glad that you didn’t just toss her in a corner and instead asked for help :) Have you had a look at Esther’s video for Part 3? It shows you exactly what to do in that round. If you are still confused, email me at dedri(at)lookatwhatimade.net and send me a photo so that I can see what you end up with after the first repeat x
Paula says
Hi
Thank you I worked it out
And now moved in to part 4 yeehaa
I love it thank you so much
Paula
Dedri Uys says
Yay!!
Laura says
Thank you so much Sonja! It is beautiful and just what it needed to make it larger for a bed.
Laura
Shelly Cullis says
Instead of starting back on sophie at chapter 15 i would still love to include the butterflies, will it still work out if i start back on this chapter.
Dedri Uys says
Hi Shelly. Unfortunately, the stitch counts only work if you stop where Sonja suggests, but you can try and fudge the pattern by adding more rounds to the corner triangles later on. It just depends on how confident you are in your design skills :)
Heidi Bahler says
New (again) to crocheting. When joining tarn using the standing sc method, do you sew in the yarns after? Does anyone have another method they use? I’ve seen weavers knots (magic knots) on a different site. Will this work? HELP!!!
Dedri Uys says
I suppose you can use magic knots, but I always just work away my tails. I don’t want to put so much effort into my work just to have it unravel. I know people swear by the knots, but some yarns just don’t ‘grip’ as well as others and I err on the side of caution.
Alica says
Hi,is it somehow possible to make the alternate universe from row 97 after finishing the butterflies ?
I just realized that I had to stop earlier (but I found this alternate universe today :-( ) and don’t want to frog 8 rows (stonewashed XL ) …
Thanks for the answer :-)
Dedri Uys says
Hi, the stitch counts for the alternate universe won’t work out if you start anywhere other than indicated. It is possible, but you would have to improvise!
Alica says
Mány thanks for the answer
Angela says
Hi! I am making Sophie’s Universe to fit a full size bed for my mom. If I do this Alternate Universe, do you think it will be enough to look like a bed spread? She has a large ruffle on the bottom of the bed so it wouldn’t have to be extra long on either side.
If you think one of the other options like Betty’s Border would be better, please tell me. I have spent too many hours on this to mess it up.
Thanks,
Angi
Jenny says
Hi Angela.
Have you done your Sophie as a square, or with Betty’s beautiful border and the extension of a Jack and a Lydia squares?
Jenny
Peta says
Hi Dedri and Sonja. I’m about to start the alternate universe and I’m confused. It says to start after round 89 but in the pictures it doesn’t look that way! Is it definitely starting after round 89?
Dedri Uys says
The alternate universe def starts after Round 89. You then repeat rounds 35 to 80 again before adding the half-gardens in the corners.
Heather Baird says
I hope this bit is included in the book I just bought….if not I’ll print it….no big deal. I’ve gotten pretty far with the online stuff. I put it down a while because my kid kept scattering my instructions I had prented lol.
Can not wait to get my book….I am thrilled.
Dedri Uys says
Hi Heather. Only the original square blanket is included in the book. All add-ons and extensions are only on the internet. My kids keep scattering my patterns-in-progress, because sometimes I get lazy and just scribble them on whatever paper is to hand and sometimes they get lost forever!
Rachel says
does the larger extension make this rectangular at all?? Want to make for a single bed so square makes that a bit tricky….. LOVE the pattern!! Absolutely stunning!!
Jenny says
Hi Rachel. As far as I know, it remains square, but I am sure Dedri will confirm, or you can contact Sonja directly.
Jenny :)
Debra says
What yarn and colors did you use?
Dedri Uys says
Hi Debra. Sonja used the colours I used for the original Sophie’s Garden. You can find the colours HERE.
Dai says
Absolutely gorgeous! I’ve been wanting to tackle a Sophie forEVER, and I’d love to use this extension. I just want to check my understanding of the yardage estimates; in the pdf for the extension, she states that she used about what she had used thus far for the extension section. Does this mean to add the yardage estimate for rounds 1-89 again (plus what will be needed for further rounds)? Thank you!
Dedri Uys says
Yes, Dai. That is what she means :)
Melanie says
Oh man, this is gorgeous!!!! I think I need to start another one! Well done, super cool!M
Joan Topp says
Love this idea and would like to use this pattern. However, the PDF link is appearing in black and does not work. Can you help me?
Dedri Uys says
The pdf link works for me. Can you clear your browser cache and try again? If it still doesn’t work, let me know and I will look into it again.
Darlene Petry says
Hi Dedri,
I love this Sophie’s Alternate Universe. I was wondering what original size Sophie Sonja started with as she states she used a G hook. I also read that she made it larger for a King size bed, which what I want to do also. Also did she use 1 of the yarn pack.
Thanks,
Darlene
Dedri Uys says
Hi Darlene. She started out with the medium (so double knit yarn and a G hook). She didn’t use a yarn pack, she just used the colours I used when I originally designed Sophie’s Garden HERE.
Jenny says
Just to clarify, this was first started with the medium size Sophie’s universe and then added on. How big did this one end up being? I’m just trying to plan. I love the colors!!!
Amanda le Roux says
Ek is so bly hiervoor! My Sophie’s universe is almost finished and I want to enlarge it. Fabulous idea!
Dedri Uys says
Hi Amanda. Ek sal graag ‘n foto wil sien wanneer jy klaar is :)
Debbie says
Hi Dedri will there be a video to go along with this I love it beautiful