Amber's Empire Antrorse

Ever since Journey, a beautiful collaboration between Shannon Cook and Jane Richmond, was published I've been dreaming of making Antrorse. This darling sweater, designed by Shannon, is knit in Aran-weight yarn and knits up really fast, especially after the sport weight lace cardigan I just finished. I took advantage of the bitty-bit of downtime between our fall and winter knit-alongs and whipped up this pullover in just a couple weeks!

Pattern: Antrorse by Shannon Cook, from the book Journey
Yarn: 1 skein Empire by Jill Draper in color Lichen
Size Made: 34
Alterations: added waist shaping (darts on the back)

This pattern is written for Quince + Co's Osprey (which we stock in our Denver location), a springy, Aran-weight yarn that gives great stitch definition. I decided to use a different, but similar yarn - one I have been dreaming of using for a while now - Jill Draper's Empire yarn. It is a great substitute for Osprey and is a very special yarn. Jill's Empire yarn is sold in 1.7 pound hanks, with a whopping 1,280 yards. Each giant skein is hand-dyed, resulting in an entire sweater's worth of yarn that is truly one dye lot. The wool is Rambouillet sourced from a single farm in Jill's home state of New York. This soft, springy wool is milled in the US into a high twist Aran-weight yarn. The high twist of the yarn keeps those soft fibers in check, meaning less pilling and more stitch definition. Perfect for sweaters and for textural soft knits that will hold up to a bit of wear!

Antrorse is an ode to the humble garter stitch, the funnel neck yoke and the chevron detail down the front feature this classic, nubbly stitch. I love me some garter stitch.

The hem and sleeves are finished with garter stitch as well, and Empire yarn really shines in this stitch.

I decided to make my Antrorse less boxy, and added some waist shaping to my sweater. I didn't want shaping to interfere with the geometric pattern on the front, so I added darts to the back waist of my sweater. It's super simple to do and I like the more fitted back that it creates.

If you love Empire, we currently only have a few of these special skeins left in stock. This yarn is made once a year and we will restock as soon as they are available again in early Fall.

Stop by our Denver shop to check out our Osprey selection--there are so many sweater perfect colors by Quince + Co!