Acorn Alpaca Simple Crochet Tunic Sweater

On X-Mas Eve, while Matthew and I were aboard my favorite floating hotel, the RMS Queen Mary, down in Long Beach, CA, I received quite a surprise.  Matthew proposed me (and I gladly accepted)! We're both philatelists and 3 years ago we met at a stamp show in Hartford, CT, while attending a dinner for "young philatelists" (stamp collectors under the age of 50!).  As corny as it sounds, it was love at first sight.  We've been through so much together and since I moved back to SF about a year ago, our relationship continues to grow stronger everyday.  We are truly happy living and working together and so incredibly in love.  I don't care how cliche all of this sounds but I totally believe in true love and you can't make quality handmade crafts without it.

Anyway, as you must be wondering where I'm going with this, Matthew's mom and stepdad sent me the most gorgeous handspun 100% alpaca yarn for X-Mas.  They live in the suburbs outside of Boston and the yarn came from a farm local to them called the Acorn Alpaca Ranch.  I instantly fell in love with this super soft and surprisingly light weight yarn and called up the farm to order more.  The 2 ply skeins are 4 oz./400 yds. and $26.50/skein.  They are totally worth it and as far East Coast yarn goes, I highly recommend buying directly from this farm.  They're friendly, professional and easy to work with.

With my swank new yarn, I decided to design my own simple crochet tunic sweater based on my own personal measurements.

My arms always get hot, especially when I'm crocheting, so I decided to make a sleeveless sweater with a square collar.

So here comes the even bigger news.  While I was only about 1/4 finished with the sweater, I found out I'm pregnant!  So instead of making it a form fitting curve clencher, I relaxed the base of the pattern to make it more forgiving to my steadily expanding pear shape.  I'm now in the 2nd trimester of my pregnancy and the sweater is so cozy that I can easily see myself wearing it well into the fall.

Here are so close ups of the detail.  The entire sweater is made with a size F hook and single crochet stitch.  

Basic natural fiber beauty.

The shoulders are horizontally attached to the vertical edges of the top of the front and back sides.

Once the sides are connected, the base is crocheted in a horizontal round around the bottom.

Looks like a square laying flat but fits like a glove!