When we began planning our big trip out West this spring, I naturally thought about what clothes I should pack. More importantly, though, I wondered what crochet projects I could take along.
We would be driving our camper from Ohio to Colorado, then continuing through Utah to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park before traveling to the Grand Canyon. That meant many miles on the road and plenty of sitting. I knew I would need a project—or two—to keep my hands busy along the way.
As it turned out, the perfect project had already found me.
How the Sweater Began
A customer had contacted me after purchasing the Sedona Pullover crochet pattern from TheCozyKnotCrochet on Etsy. She was looking for ten colors of alpaca yarn that were similar to those pictured in the designer’s sweater.
Fortunately, our Classic Alpaca Yarn is available in so many beautiful colors that finding a comparable palette wasn’t difficult. I pulled together ten shades that worked well together and sent her my suggestions.
The customer ultimately decided not to purchase the yarn, but by then I had fallen in love with the sweater myself.
I had never crocheted a sweater before, but I decided the Sedona Pullover would be my project for our trip.
Twenty Skeins Packed for the Journey
I left Ohio with 20 skeins of Classic Alpaca Yarn packed in the camper—two skeins of each of the ten colors I had selected.
The palette included shades of cream, taupe, gray, plum, lavender, violet, pink, and rust. At the time, I chose them because I liked how they looked together. As I worked on the sweater and we traveled farther west, I began to realize how closely the yarn reflected the scenery surrounding us.
Nine of the ten Classic Nine of the ten Classic Alpaca Yarn colors I selected for my Sedona Pullover. I was temporarily out of the tenth color when I took this photo.The soft neutrals reminded me of stone and canyon walls. The purples and lavender echoed distant mountains and evening shadows. The warmer pink and rust tones brought to mind desert rock and the changing colors of sunset.
Without planning it, I had chosen a western landscape in yarn.
A Well-Traveled Crochet Project
The sweater traveled from Ohio to Colorado and then through some of the most beautiful places in Utah and Arizona. It accompanied us to Zion, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon.
You might assume that all those miles meant I finished the sweater during the trip.
I didn’t.
In fact, I didn’t finish it until months later. Perhaps that simply means I was enjoying the vacation too much to crochet as steadily as I had imagined!
Still, I completed enough along the way that the sweater will always remind me of our journey. Projects often hold memories, and this one carries memories of mountains, canyons, camper travel, and a spring adventure out West.
Changing Colors Every Two Rows
The pattern called for a color change every two rows. With ten colors repeating throughout the sweater, learning an efficient way to change yarn became important.
For a clean color change, I worked the final stitch with the old color until only the last pull-through remained. I then used the new color to complete that stitch. This allowed the new shade to be ready for the first stitch of the following row and created a neater transition between the stripes.
Because so many rows used a different color, there were an enormous number of yarn ends by the time the pieces were ready to assemble—and yes, I have a picture to prove it!
Fortunately, many of those ends became useful when I stitched the sides of the sweater together. I carefully used each yarn end only within the matching stripe, which helped keep the seaming less noticeable while reducing the number of ends that still needed to be woven in. It took extra attention, but it made good use of the yarn and gave the finished sweater a neater appearance.
What first looked like an overwhelming number of ends turned out to be useful. Many became part of the construction itself, and the remaining ends were a visible reminder of just how many color changes went into this sweater.
Working with Classic Alpaca Yarn
Classic Alpaca is a DK-weight, 100% baby alpaca yarn that is soft, warm, and available in an unusually broad range of colors. That variety is what made it possible to create a ten-color palette without sacrificing the feel and consistency of the finished fabric.
The completed sweater weighs approximately two pounds and used most of the 20 skeins I packed. It is substantial, wonderfully warm, and filled with color, yet the alpaca fiber gives it a soft drape.
Although this was my first sweater, it certainly wasn’t a small first-sweater project. Between the shaping, seaming, ribbing, repeated color changes, and all those ends, I learned something during nearly every stage.
Curious about what happens before fiber becomes yarn? Read How Alpaca Fiber Becomes Yarn for a look at the process from fleece to finished yarn.
What I Learned From My First Sweater
My biggest lesson may be that a large project doesn’t have to be completed quickly to be worthwhile.
This sweater began with a customer’s question, traveled thousands of miles in our camper, took months to finish, and became something completely different from what I first imagined. The western colors give it a sense of place, while every stripe reminds me of the journey and the time spent making it.
I also learned that I can crochet a sweater—something I had never attempted before.
Is it perfect? Probably not. First projects rarely are. But it is colorful, warm, one of a kind, and made entirely from alpaca yarn. Most importantly, it carries a story.
That makes it very special to me.
Make Your Own Sedona Pullover
The sweater was made using the purchased Sedona Pullover pattern from TheCozyKnotCrochet.
If you would like to create your own alpaca version, explore the beautiful color selection available in our Classic Alpaca Yarn. Whether your palette is inspired by western mountains, autumn leaves, natural alpaca shades, or colors that simply make you happy, choosing the yarn may be half the fun.
