Because I want to be able to check on sizing by wrapping the garment around my arm as I go, I will be using circular knitting needles, as I am not working on them at an event, needle type is not as important. You will also find that I like to do both sleeves at once using two balls of yarn (one for each sleeve) attached. You don't have to do it this way, if it is confusing, but the pictures I post will show both on the needles. You can make them one at a time or both together.
As for color choices, while this pattern came from Peterson's 1859, and suggested brown as the main color and red for the ribbing, there was another pattern featured in Godey's vol. 65 pg. 495 in 1862, which suggest sleeves using pink, scarlet, blue or green combined with white.