544 Cardamom Vest - Tank Top Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Northampton

544 Cardamom Vest – Tank Top Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Northampton

The 544 Cardamom Vest, designed by Kirsten Hipsky, is a classic fitted scoop-neck vest and tank top for women, worked in Valley Yarns Northampton wool. The pattern is published as a downloadable PDF and is rated intermediate in difficulty, making it an excellent project for knitters who are comfortable with basic techniques and ready to explore more intricate cable work. The design is notable for its elegant, textured Cardamom Panel cable motif, self-finishing ribbed edges, and subtle saddle shoulders — details that elevate it well beyond a standard vest pattern.

What Is Being Made

The finished object is a fitted, sleeveless vest with a scoop neckline, intended to be worn as a layering piece or standalone top. It is worked in a seamed construction, meaning the front and back pieces are knitted flat and then joined together. The vest is available in six sizes:

• 32, 36, 40, 44, 48, and 52 inches finished bust circumference
• The sample shown in the pattern is worked in size 36 inches

The design features self-finishing ribbed edges that transition seamlessly into subtle saddle shoulders, giving the garment a polished, structured look without requiring additional finishing steps such as picked-up borders. The scoop neckline adds a feminine touch that complements the textured cable panel running through the body of the vest.

Yarn and Materials

The pattern calls for Valley Yarns Northampton, a 100% wool worsted weight yarn with approximately 247 yards per 100g skein. The sample is knitted in the colorway Sage Heather, a soft, muted green tone that beautifully showcases the dimensional cable texture. Yardage requirements by size are as follows:

• 3 skeins – sizes 32 and 36 inches
• 4 skeins – sizes 40, 44, and 48 inches
• 5 skeins – size 52 inches

Valley Yarns Northampton is a pure wool yarn, which means it has excellent stitch definition — a critical quality when working cables, as the raised stitches need to stand out clearly against the background fabric. Wool also has natural elasticity that helps cables retain their shape over time.

Additional materials required include:

• US size 6 (4.00mm) knitting needles, or the size needed to achieve gauge
• A cable needle for working the cable crossings
• 2 stitch markers to help track pattern repeats and shaping sections

Gauge

Achieving accurate gauge is essential for a fitted garment like this vest. The specified gauge is 22 stitches and 30 rows over 4 inches in stockinette stitch using US size 6 needles. Knitters are encouraged to swatch carefully before beginning, as even a small deviation in gauge can significantly affect the finished bust measurement across six sizes.

Techniques Used

This pattern uses a seamed construction, in which the front and back of the vest are worked separately as flat pieces and then sewn together at the shoulders and side seams. This traditional approach gives the finished garment structure and stability, and is well suited to the worsted weight wool used here.

The primary decorative technique is cabling, which involves crossing groups of stitches over one another using a cable needle to create twisted, rope-like or braided textures on the surface of the fabric. The cables in this pattern are worked using both back crosses (BC) and front crosses (FC), which determine whether the cable leans to the right or the left. Additional cable crossings are labeled RC (right cross) and LC (left cross) within the Cardamom Panel instructions.

The pattern also uses a distinctive increase technique called k1-yo-k1 in 1 stitch, in which the knitter works into the same stitch three times — knitting once, making