Berroco’s Voyage yarn was one of my all time favorite yarns- it had a beautiful heather color palette, a soft hand, and, because of the chainette construction, it was light—practically weightless despite being a chunky yarn. Sadly Voyage was discontinued—so what yarn should you choose to use to make some of the great patterns that were designed for Voyage?
Voyage was knit at 4–½ stitches per inch, and the yarn was super bouncy and stretchy, so even though it was a chunky weight yarn, you had to use very large needles. If looking for a substitute we recommend that you “round up” a little and go for a chunky yarn (rather then an Aran weight) with a stockinette stitch gauge around 3½ sts per inch.
Berroco Ultra Alpaca Chunky and Ultra Alpaca Chunky Tonal are a 2 ply 50/50 blend of highland wool and alpaca—Chunky comes in 24 colors and the Chunky Tonal comes in another 6. This yarn is warm—perfect for heavy garments and outerwear. Use it for patterns such as Marocchino and Wisteria (shown above).
Berroco Vintage Chunky comes in a whopping 54 shades—this yarn is a machine washable blend of 52% acrylic, 40% wool, and 8% nylon. Use Vintage Chunky for warm cozy sweaters that you want to wear indoors such as Knik, Consonia, and accessories such as Scuro.
Berroco Inca Tweed is a very differently textured yarn from the previous two suggestions. This one is a 2 ply like the Ultra Alpaca Chunky but has a handspun-like texture with thick and thin, tweed, and beautiful subtle color variations due to the way that the different fibers take the dyes. Inca Tweed is available in 13 shades and though the fiber content is different, the look of the knitted fabric is truest to the look of Voyage. Beautifully simple patterns like Proxy, Panna, and Ristretto will shine in Inca Tweed.
As always swatch your chosen yarn before beginning the project. Try swatching with a few different needles to ensure that you’re happy with the knitted fabric you’re producing, and I always recommend binding off the swatch, washing it and letting it dry completely before beginning to knit a garment—it’s the only way to ensure that you’re going to get a knit that fits!
Happy knitting,
-AC