Massimo Alba Persico Cardigan

The blend is the argument. Wool has crimp, a natural waviness along the fibre that makes it elastic, bouncy, and inclined to hold a shape. Alpaca has very little, so it falls rather than springs, and a knit with this much alpaca in it drapes from the shoulder rather than standing away from the body. It also insulates far beyond its weight, because the fibre is hollow-cored, which is why a garment this warm does not feel like armour. The mohair contributes the halo, that faint surface fuzz that catches light and makes the colour look lit from within rather than printed on. The two percent silk is there for strength and for a little lustre in the yarn.

Held at forty-six percent each, wool and alpaca balance each other exactly. The alpaca supplies the drape and the warmth. The wool supplies the memory, so the garment comes back into shape rather than growing a size every winter, which is what happens to pure alpaca knitwear worn hard. It is a sensible construction rather than a purist one, and Lava is the correct name for the colour: not red, not brown, something molten in between.

It is a cardigan, and on a knit carrying this much weight that is the more useful decision by a long way. A heavy pullover is a commitment for the whole afternoon: it goes on over the head, it disturbs whatever is underneath it, and the only temperature it offers is the one it arrived with. An opening down the front gives the same garment three settings. Closed to the high neck it is as warm as anything you own. Half open it is a wide soft collar with a shirt showing through. Open it is a jacket, which for most of a Santa Fe winter is what you actually want from something this warm.

Alpaca at this proportion is unusual, and it is the whole reason to own it: the blend is doing something you can feel in the first thirty seconds rather than the first winter. We also wanted a knit with genuine volume in it, because fine gauge is the easy answer and it is not always the right one.

The Persico is the heaviest knit Massimo Alba makes, and it is where the house's knitwear origins arrive at their least restrained.

Forty-six percent virgin wool, forty-six percent alpaca, six percent mohair, two percent silk, made in Italy. A cardigan, opening down the front, with a high neck. Relaxed fit. Colour: Lava.

Relaxed and generous, and it will read looser on than the measurements of the same size in a fine gauge would suggest, because a low-crimp fibre hangs rather than holds. Closed, the high neck sits up against the throat, so what goes underneath should be low or open at the collar. Open, the front falls in two long panels rather than framing the body, which is a shape that suits the volume and is most of how it will actually be worn. Alpaca relaxes across a day of wear and recovers when it rests. Do not hang it: a fibre that drapes this readily will lengthen on a hanger and not come back.

Open over the Genova in Bianco with the collar out. With the Winch2 in Alluminio, where Lava against grey is the pairing we would choose. Closed to the neck under the Bali jacket in cashmere if it is genuinely cold, though the volume of both together is a lot.

Fold it, air it between wearings, and hand wash only when it truly needs it, in cool water with a wool detergent, then dry flat and reshape while damp. Hanging is what ruins a knit like this. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

The Liam Sweater is the cashmere half-zip, the Larry Crewneck Sweater is the extrafine virgin wool, and the Sport Crew Neck Sweater is the cashmere jacquard. The Winch2 Trousers are the corduroy underneath, and the Bali Jacket is cashmere cut as outerwear. Everything we carry from Massimo Alba is listed together.