And the winner is...

The Goldie Golf Sweater!

I confess that this was always a front-runner in my mind and that I probably would have knit it even if it hadn't received the most votes, so I'm glad that the public vote will end up supporting my first choice.

I've read through the instructions 5 or 6 times and sketched out a schematic, as I did with the Ladies' Outing Coat. In this pattern, you knit the skirt portion first. It's a big garter stitch rectangle with wide bands of the main color and narrow strips of 1x1 ribbing that help to create a scalloped hemline. The hemline is then finished with a crochet border to emphasize the natural wavy edge. The rest of the sweater is knit separately in one big piece, sleeves included, starting with the back of the sweater. Button bands are knit simultaneously with the front (it's a relief not to have to worry about quite so much crochet finishing this time around) and then the side seams are sewn and the skirt is stitched onto the body of the sweater. The collar, sleeve ruffles, and sash are knit separately.

As with the Ladies' Outing Coat, there is no recommended gauge and the suggested yarn (Utopia llama yarn in golden brown and white) is long discontinued. Based on the stitch counts in the pattern, I've surmised that a modern worsted weight yarn will likely provide me with the gauge I need. I swatched some Cascade 220 from my stash with size 8 needles and achieved 4.5 stitches per inch, which is just exactly what I think I want.

Another unknown element in this pattern is the amount of yarn I'll need. There's a handy chart on the Lion Brand website with yarn estimates for various projects and yarn weights. Since I'm making a small adult sweater with an extra-long scarf in worsted weight yarn, the estimate falls somewhere around 1800 yards, which is about 9 skeins of Cascade 220 (each skein contains 220 yards). Maybe I'll get 7 skeins of my main color and 2 of my contrast color. However, since I always get nervous about running out of yarn, I might throw in an extra skein or two, just as insurance.

Next step: color selection. A trip to my local yarn store is in order soon!