I’m about to start on my first serious crochet garment. I stumbled upon the Northern Dreams Pullover during a long Pinterest session trawling for new crochet ideas. In two shakes, I had the Best of Interweave Crochet book on order from our warehouse to replace our missing office copy and I headed straight for the Wool of the Andes Sport yarn bins. I had a few color palettes in mind that I wanted to see in person before I settled on one.

First I tried to replicate the original colors using Wool of the Andes Sport colors (top row in the image). While I liked it, the color combination just wasn’t my style so I leaned towards blues and greens (second row). I love how Thirst Heather and Midnight Heather look together – the heathered flecks of color in Midnight Heather look just like bits of Thirst Heather! So pretty, and I’ve always wanted a sweater with Midnight as the main color. However, that particular colorway was just a bit brighter than I wanted in a sweater so I decided to try something totally different.

My next thought was to go as dark and monochromatic as possible with Cobblestone as the main color. I think that colorwork sweaters are prettiest with a very narrow color palette and I think the Northern Dreams Pullover is no different (even if it is crochet). I was pretty satisfied with my dark itteration, but my eyes kept straying to the Mink Heather in the mix. That lovely, soft, rabbity tan is one of my favorite colors in Wool of the Andes and I’ve yet to make something in it. After looking at all of the other Ravelry projects from this pattern I decided that I wanted a more subtle yoke so that it wouldn’t draw too much attention to my shoulders (a tendency with the contrast-heavy sweaters).

The last palette with Bramble Heather as the body color is my favorite. I love how all those natural colors would blend together across the shoulders, fading in and out again with very subtle transitions. In the end, I think I’ll probably work the body in Mink Heather and then transition through the rest of the palette in the yoke (including Bramble Heather).

I can’t wait to get started on my very first large crochet garment! The pattern looks very beginner-friendly with minimal shaping and the majority of the body worked in single crochet. This sounds like the perfect project to work on while watching movies and easy to put down and pick back up during short bits of down time. Wish me luck!

P.S. What are YOUR favorite beginner-friendly knit or crochet beginner patterns? I’m always on the hunt for new ones to try!