If you like the item, I would say do what the tag says. The maker of the garment is not gaining anything from you dry cleaning it (i.e. money).
If you really want to take the chance of not being able to wear the sweater again, you could wrap in in a towel, put the towel in a bag – the kind you can put your unmentionable in to wash – wash with a couple of other item – like towels- so the washer stays level. wash in cold, hand-wash cycle. Careful unwrap and lay flat to dry on a sweater drying mesh thing.
You may want to speed up the drying by having a small fan blowing on it.
Never hang this sweater, fold it to store.
Sounds like a lot of work, and it is. Dry cleaning is much easier.
You can save on dry cleaning by after wearing hang on padded hanger spray with Frebrez or the like have a fan blow on it a bit to dry any dampness from the day and the spray. once you are sure it is dry, fold to store. Depending on what you do while wearing it you could wash after 2 – 4 wearings with this method.