Audrey Sweater

A good friend of mine showed me a pattern on Ravelry a couple months ago.  The pattern is for a cardigan, the Audrey by Jane Richmond.  It was love at first sight.  I adore Jane's designs and have knit one or two in the past.

I immediately started thinking about which yarn and colorway I should use with this pattern.  I had a variety of ideas, and then thought, maybe I should make it with a yarn colorway that I already wanted to use for something but hadn't decided what.  That would narrow my choices a little.  So I started to think about which specific colors of HaldeCraft HandDyed I loved and wanted to use for a sweater.  The colorway, Irish Coffee was at the top of the list.  I have wanted to use this color in a sweater for some time, but had no pattern in mind, and hadn't been looking since I already had another sweater with yarn already purchased to work on first.

I knew I wanted to use Irish Coffee and which pattern to use, so now I had to narrow down which base to use.  My first instinct was Marion, because Cashmere!  Hello lovely squishy softness!  I started communication about this project and soon learned that the depth of brown for the Irish Coffee that I wanted in this sweater would be more attainable with a pure 100% wool base.  From there, Tiptree was the clear and obvious choice.  I would get a deep tonal brown just as I wanted.  I set up my request for the custom dye job of 5 skeins with the dyer of HaldeCraft HandDyed, my friend, Lorena.  She even offered to give it a second dip if it wasn't the depth of brown I had envisioned!  Isn't that the coolest?!  So a short time later, I was shipped these lovlies:

This is a twice dipped custom dye lot of Irish Coffee.  It is perfect!  Exactly what I wanted!

Today I purchased and downloaded the pattern, took photos of the hanks of yarn, and set a personal goal of Sept. 30, 2014 to have the sweater finished.  Can you just imagine how gorgeous this will be in brown?

Look at all that squishy garter stitch!  I hope the pattern isn't too difficult for me and I hope all those buttonholes don't make me crazy.  I actually may reduce the button count just a bit, and may sew on a band on the reverse so it lays flatter and neater.  Wish me luck on meeting my goal!