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Jaime's Vibrant Fortune Sweater

This sweater came about because of this most perfect yarn and wanting to wrap my body in it. Read on to hear me wax poetic about this vibrant yellow alpaca yarn and my new Fortune Sweater...
jaimes handknit fortune sweater
Pattern: Fortune Sweater by PetiteKnit
Yarn: Water by Wool Addicts in Lemon
Size: knit xs to get a 44" bust in my 18 sts to 4" gauge
Modifications: Decreased sleeves a bit
close up of handknit sweater
I fell in love with Water yarn at the June TNNA tradeshow, where we go to see and order new yarns and meet people in the yarn industry. I fell in love with everything about this yarn. It's so soft! It's so rustic! It's so weird! It is a brushed 100% alpaca. It is rustic, textured and surprisingly lightweight. Each 50 gram ball gives you 153 yards of aran weight yarn... the amount you would expect from a 100 gram ball. What is this magic?? It's in the brushing. The yarn is lightweight and fluffed up from brushing, giving it a mohair-like texture in a super soft 100% alpaca. It's a real feat of yarn production and a truly unique and beautiful yarn. You normally expect a 100% alpaca yarn to have a ton of drape and perhaps be dense or heavy, but not Water! I haven't been this excited about a yarn since I went to Faroe islands last year and met those adorable sheep responsible for Navia.

Also, this color! You all know I love a good yellow and this just might be the BEST yellow. But also the entire palette of this yarn is great - just try to pick one that is your favorite, I bet you can't do it.

I chose to knit the Fortune Sweater by PetiteKnits. I loved the ballon-y shape and the simple and subtle, yet adorable all-over eyelet pattern. Her pattern was written for a smaller DK weight yarn and I didn't want this sweater to become too dense using her recommended 21 sts/4" gauge (that would defeat the entire lightweight fluffy existence that is Water) so I opted to keep my larger gauge of 18 sts/4" and knit the size xs for a total ending bust of 44" or about a medium according to the pattern. This worked out pretty well with this simple, top down, raglan-construction.
fortune sweater sleeve
The other mod I made to this was to taper the sleeves more. The original pattern has almost belled sleeves that end in a gathered cuff, but I wasn't 100% sure how I would like that, so I opted for a more traditional, gradually tapered sleeve. I tapered down the stitch count about 25% and then followed the pattern instructions to have the correct number of cuff stitches.

Overall, I'm in love. I can't recommend this yarn enough for your winter sweater knitting plans. Its affordable, adorable, soft, rustic, and fuzzy. It's just soo good!

Comments on this post (2)

  • Nov 15, 2019

    Can I ask how you figured how many balls of yarn you would need? I read the pattern and am just not the greatest at these conversions lol! But I would LOVE to try this yarn! I LOVE alpaca so much and this has me excited!

    — JLynn

  • Nov 15, 2019

    What a gorgeous make. How many balls of yarn did you end up using?

    — Kim Andersson

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