I’ve wanted to knit this cute pullover for quite some time. Irene Lin’s designs are brilliant. I thought I finally found the right yarn for it. I just didn’t realize that this yarn requires much larger needles and a larger size (or two) to achieve the intended fit and gauge.

New Sky Light is a very unusual yarn. It’s so stretchy that it’s almost like knitting with fine elastic. It’s very light and airy, but knits up like a DK weight yarn due to the fuzziness of the alpaca it contains. The fiber content makes it extrermely soft. I love the colors as well. There’s a slight tonal effect since the different fibers take the dye differently. The core yarn is darker than the fluffy alpaca wrap. I have not tried frogging any part of this. However, it looks like it would be difficult to unravel anything knitted with this due to its extreme fuzziness. When knitted, the fabric almost looks like it’s been felted.

Note that the pattern calls for a bulky weight yarn. I thought this yarn would knit up the same as Irene’s sample due to the same yardage per 50-gram ball. However, if knitting this again, I would go up a needle size (or two) and/or knit a much larger size. It fits me, but actually has negative ease which is not what the designer intended. Normally I use the same size needles recommended in Irene’s patterns, but that was a mistake with this very unusual, super stretchy yarn. This design is supposed to have a lot of positive ease.

Due to my gauge being way off (both stitch and row gauge), the armhole depth was much too short for me. Therefore, I had to get out my sewing machine and cut away about 1.5” from each underarm area before picking up stitches around the underarm for the sleeves. I actually had to follow the instructions for the largest size when it came to knitting the sleeves. Also, due to my short row gauge, the neckline appears much higher on me than in the pattern photo.

Note that the gauge given above is the intended pattern gauge. My gauge turned out to be quite different because of the very unusual, super stretchy yarn. I ended up doing a lot more rounds on the upper sleeves as well as more rounds for the sleeve colorwork. This was partly because I have very long arms, but especially because of my row gauge which was much shorter than the pattern row gauge.

In spite of my gauge being way off, the sweater fits me well, and is light as a feather. Very pleased with how this turned out. Super cute, warm and comfy without the usual weight of winter sweaters.

Needles used:

Size 7 US - Neckband

Size 8 US - Everything else

Size 5 US - Lower ribbing bind off only (JSSBO)

Size 9 US - Sleeve colorwork only

Weight of finished garment: 6.7 oz (190 grams)

Measurements:

Body length from underarm: 14” (35.6 cm)

Sleeve length from underarm: 19” (48.3 cm)

What I did differently:

• Sleeves: On page 8, pattern says to knit 12 rounds between increase rounds. I had to knit 18 rounds between increase rounds due to my short row gauge and long arms.

• After completing extra rounds in the colorwork section, I did 20 repeats of Rnds 1 and 2 before starting the i-cord bind off.

I-cord bind off in the round and grafting video tutorial