Ultra Alpaca

Alpaca alone can be too soft — drapey to the point of losing its shape, slow to spring back, prone to growing. Wool brings the structure alpaca sometimes needs. Ultra Alpaca splits the difference exactly right.

The blend is 50% superfine alpaca and 50% Peruvian Highland wool, spun in Peru into a round, lofty three-ply. The alpaca delivers the softness and that subtle halo that makes a finished sweater feel like it costs more than it did. The wool brings the memory and structure that keeps cables crisp, colorwork readable, and finished garments holding their shape. Neither fiber is doing too much. Neither is doing too little.

The color palette leans rich and heathery — sixty shades of solids, natural heathers, and dyed heathers chosen to resemble plant-dyed colors. Slightly muted and deeply layered, it’s the kind of palette where almost any two colors look like they were meant to be together. It rewards colorwork as generously as it rewards a single carefully chosen shade worn every day.

Ultra Alpaca is non-superwash and needs to be treated accordingly: cold water, gentle handling, lay flat to dry. It will felt with heat and agitation, which is worth knowing before you cast on a gift for someone who considers care labels optional reading.

For the same blend in natural, undyed tones, Ultra Alpaca Natural lets the fibers’ own colors speak. For a little more heft, Ultra Alpaca Chunky takes the same 50/50 wool-and-alpaca balance into a heavier two-ply yarn.