Baby Alpaca Cardigan

I've been making this for nine months, I should be wearing this 24/7 and I am not. I've worn it twice in two weeks... I don't know if it's worth it at all, but I had a nice time knitting it, so, what the heck!

I bought this baby alpaca wool in Wool and the Gang, in one of their great 50% windows, with free shipping on top. So the price was more than fair for this quality yarn. 
I followed Ann Budd's Top-Down Sweaters book to make it, in a pattern I came up with: knit 5, purl 1. This gives some vertical lines that are only visible on the wrong side, or if the right side is stretched. I made it with cabled needles, so it does not have sewn seams anywhere, and that is so nice. 

I made a 1x1 rib strip for the front opening, with buttonholes and big beautiful buttons I bought in the Barcelona Knitting festival past November 17th, where I also bought the yarn for my next project, which I have already begun.
Unfortunately, I made a miscalculation, the gauge turned up to be 6 instead of the 7 stitches the 1/4" that I had set my calculation for after the first test sample. So the jacket ended up being too big, and I realized that after steam blocking it!

I do not understand why I did not try it on properly before steaming it, or maybe I did and I don't remember, who knows... the fact is that I decided, after reading some advice regarding alpaca only, not to immerse it in water to block it. I read in several places that alpaca is very unstable when wet, prone to get bigger... I had just a had a nasty experience washing a superwash merino pullover and spending one week trying to reduce it back again to its knitted size. I managed to do it with much patience and patting, but I did not want to relive that... so I found this great video and others, saying that pin your piece down and steam your hot iron over it without touching, was the best way to block alpaca. When it dried off and I tried it on I realized it was more than a size too big. I then checked the gauge, and it was 6 rather than the intended 7. So I pinned the cardigan down, wrinkling it to be 10 cm smaller in circumference. I steamed and steamed, patting it down to shrink it, and I could do it! I also sewed a ribbon from shoulder ridge to shoulder ridge passing all the way through tha back of the neck, to contain the cardigan from stretching because of the weight. Alpaca is weighty, specially this big a cardigan.  

Another drawback was the fact the the cardigan left tons of little hairs on the clothes under it. I had to clean and clean them every time I wore it, plus cleaning itself too, hanging it in the wind, etc. It still leaves hairs, but I expect they will eventually stop.
All in all, a discreet success. Only time will say if it is a really useful piece of clothing. Cardigans have the advantage of being able to be worn open or close, depending on the temperature you are in, but they have the inconvenience of having to match not only the bottom, but the top under it as well... 
As I said before, I am now into the following knitting project, a tight merino/moire/silk pullover, which I am greatly enjoying. Also following Ann Budd's bible. 

See it in Ravelry