772 Cloe Cardigan - Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Southwick

772 Cloe Cardigan – Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Southwick

The 772 Cloe Cardigan is a beautifully relaxed, unstructured women's cardigan designed by Kirsten Hipsky and published as a downloadable PDF knitting pattern. At the heart of this design is an intricate lace pattern that serves as the true focal point of the garment, showcasing the elegant drape and soft sheen of Valley Yarns Southwick yarn. This is a one-size design with a generous finished measurement of approximately 57 inches around, making it a flowing, open-front layering piece that sits beautifully over light tops and blouses.

Construction and Techniques

The Cloe Cardigan is worked as a one-piece, bottom-up construction, which means the knitter begins at the lower edge of the back and works upward, over the shoulders, and back down the front panels — a clever and satisfying approach that minimizes finishing work while keeping the lace pattern continuous. The two front panels are worked as separate pieces during a portion of the construction, with stitches placed on holders at key points such as the back neck and underarms. Once the body is complete, the side seams are sewn up to the desired underarm location, making this a seamed garment with a polished, structured finish despite its relaxed silhouette.

This bottom-up, seamed method is a classic approach in knitting that gives the finished fabric excellent stability and allows the knitter to try on the piece as construction progresses. Stitches are placed on holders at the underarms and back neck, a technique that allows the knitter to return to those sections for seamless integration of the front and back sections.

Lace Pattern and Stitches

The defining feature of this cardigan is its lace stitch pattern, which is worked in a 34-stitch and 28-row repeat measuring approximately 6.5 inches wide and 4.5 inches long per repeat. This repeat creates a rhythmic, intricate texture that rewards the intermediate knitter with a visually stunning result. The lace is complemented by knit and purl stitches used in the border and transitional sections, as seen in the ribbed-style edge detailing noted in the pattern instructions.

Stitches and techniques used in this pattern include:

• Lace knitting — working yarn-overs and decreases to create open, decorative eyelets in a structured repeat
• Knit and purl stitches — used throughout for borders and structural sections
• Stitch holders — used at the back neck and underarms to hold live stitches for later joining
• Seaming — side seams are sewn to a chosen underarm height to complete the garment
• Bottom-up construction — beginning at the lower back hem and working upward over the shoulders

Yarn and Materials

This pattern is written specifically for Valley Yarns Southwick, a luxurious DK weight yarn with a fiber composition of 52% Pima Cotton and 48% Bamboo, available in 50g/105-yard skeins. The pattern calls for 11 skeins in the colorway Mineral Green. The blend of Pima Cotton and Bamboo gives Southwick its signature soft, silky hand and beautiful drape — qualities that make it ideally suited to a flowing lace cardigan like the Cloe. The natural fibers also lend a subtle sheen that enhances the visual depth of the lace pattern.

Recommended needles are US size 6 (4.00mm), or the size needed to achieve a gauge of approximately 5 stitches and 7 rows per inch in the stitch pattern. As with all lace knitting, achieving the correct gauge is essential to ensure the lace repeat measures correctly and the finished cardigan reaches its intended dimensions.

Difficulty and Ideal Knitter

The 772 Cloe Cardigan is rated as an intermediate knitting pattern, making it well-suited to knitters who are comfortable with lace techniques, reading multi-row stitch repeats, and managing stitches on holders.