Monterey Tee - Top Knitting Pattern for Women in Tahki Yarns Tandem by Tahki Yarns

Monterey Tee – Top Knitting Pattern for Women in Tahki Yarns Tandem

The Monterey Tee is a women's knitted top designed by Teresa Chorzepa for Tahki Yarns, worked in the brand's signature Tandem yarn. This intermediate-level pattern produces a relaxed, stylish tee with a striking two-color striped and intarsia colorwork design. The finished garment is sized to fit with 1–3 inches of positive ease, making it a comfortable, wearable everyday top suitable for a range of body types.

Sizes and Finished Measurements

The Monterey Tee is available in four sizes: Small, Medium, Large, and XL. The finished bust measurements are as follows:

• Small: 35"/89 cm
• Medium: 38½"/98 cm
• Large: 42½"/108 cm
• XL: 46"/117 cm

The finished length ranges from 22"/56 cm (Small) to 23½"/59.5 cm (XL), creating a classic tee-length silhouette that sits at or just below the hip.

What Is Being Made

The Monterey Tee is a seamed, flat-knit women's top featuring a structured body with colorwork detailing. The design incorporates a carefully planned stripe sequence worked across the body using two contrasting colorways of Tandem yarn, giving the finished tee a modern, graphic look. The use of intarsia technique allows distinct color blocks to be worked without carrying yarn across the entire row, resulting in a clean, professional finish on both the right and wrong sides of the fabric.

Techniques Used

This pattern is rated intermediate in difficulty, making it well-suited for knitters who are comfortable with the basics and ready to expand their skills. The key techniques involved include:

• Intarsia colorwork: A method of knitting separate color sections using individual yarn bobbins or lengths of yarn, rather than stranding across the back. This technique is essential for achieving clean, defined color blocks in the Monterey Tee's design.
• Worked flat (back and forth in rows): The pieces are knitted flat on straight or circular needles, meaning knitters work in rows rather than in the round for the main body sections.
• Seamed construction: The finished pieces are sewn together using a yarn needle, which gives the garment structure and a neat, tailored finish.
• Reverse Stockinette stitch (Rev St st): The main fabric of the tee is worked in Reverse Stockinette stitch, where the purl side faces outward. This creates a textured, matte surface that beautifully showcases the two-color stripe sequence.
• Decreases: The pattern uses standard decrease methods including K2tog (knit two together through the front loops) and ssk (slip, slip, knit) for shaping.
• Stripe sequence: A structured, repeating stripe pattern alternates between the two yarn colors across specific row counts, creating a rhythmic, graphic colorwork effect throughout the body of the tee.

Stripe Sequence Detail

The stripe sequence is a defining feature of the Monterey Tee and is worked as follows across the body:

• Rows 1–12: Colors A and B
• Rows 13–16: Color A only
• Rows 17–20: Colors A and B
• Rows 21–24: Color B only
• Rows 25–32: Colors A and B
• Rows 33–36: Color A only
• Rows 37–40: Color B only

This carefully structured sequence creates a visually dynamic, modern stripe pattern that gives the Monterey Tee its distinctive aesthetic appeal.

Stitches Used