I finished the Fernlys Sweater by Liv Ulven this past spring and wanted to share a project recap. I used yarn I found at Rhinebeck from Shenandoah Fiber Company and the pairing ended up working really well.
The pattern is a top-down circular yoke, with shaping around the neckline. It has an Estonian braided detail across the chest, shoulders, and cuffs, which adds some subtle texture to the sweater. In addition, to some simple color work with usually 3-4 repeats, making the color work come together easily. It’s mostly simple stockinette once you get past the yoke, which made for a low-effort knit.
This was my first time knitting with Shenandoah Fiber Company’s yarn. I bought it at their booth at the New York Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck. I had been walking through their booth and noticed these skeins for how soft they were, it really stood out from all the rest. They explained that this wool came from their Alpaca’s Marzipan and Ziva. I loved the little cards telling us more about the alpacas! I grabbed one skein of the green and four of the light blue. In retrospect, these colors looked beautiful next to each other as skeins, but overlapped quite a bit. If you knit this pattern, I suggest getting two colors with more contrast to make the color work stand out.
The yarn held up well while knitting, and it blocked out nicely. It’s soft but still has enough structure to show the yoke pattern clearly. I didn’t make any major modifications to the pattern, just followed the size I normally knit and aimed for gauge.
If you’re looking for a simple sweater that has a bit of detail, Fernlys is a good option. It’s great for knitters getting into color work or learning new techniques. And if you come across Shenandoah Fiber Company at a festival, their yarn is definitely worth checking out!
