Lourdes Top in Berroco Pima 100 - 385-4 - Downloadable PDF

Lourdes Top in Berroco Pima 100 — Pattern Summary (Design 385-4 by Amy Christoffers)

The Lourdes Top is a beautifully textured knitted top designed by Amy Christoffers and published by Berroco as part of Booklet #385. This intermediate-level pattern is available as a downloadable PDF and produces a flattering, lightweight top worked in a distinctive elongated-stitch pattern combined with classic stockinette. The design is shown in size 44" and offers a range of finished bust measurements from 40" to 60", with a designed ease of approximately 2–6 inches, making it suitable for a wide variety of body types. Finished lengths range from 22" to 24" depending on size.

What Is Being Made

The Lourdes Top is a seamed, pullover-style top with shaped shoulders and a defined neckline. It is worked in pieces on straight needles and then assembled, giving knitters a traditional, structured construction. The garment features panels of an eye-catching elongated drop-stitch pattern alternating with sections of smooth stockinette stitch, creating a sophisticated textural contrast ideal for warm-weather or layered wearing.

Construction and Techniques

The Lourdes Top is constructed using a seamed, worked-flat method, meaning each piece — front, back, and any additional panels — is knitted flat on straight needles and then joined with seams. This approach gives the finished garment clean, stable edges and a polished, structured silhouette. A 16" circular needle in size 5 (3.75 mm) is also called for, most likely used for finishing the neckline or other edging details.

Shaping is worked at the shoulders and neck, with stitch holders used to hold live stitches during construction — a hallmark of careful, well-engineered garment knitting. Stitch markers are used to delineate sections during shaping rows, helping knitters keep accurate track of pattern placement and bind-off points.

Stitches Used

The pattern features a distinctive Pattern Stitch worked over a multiple of 3 stitches plus 4, which is the visual centerpiece of the Lourdes Top. This stitch is worked over a 15-row repeat and includes several specialized techniques:

• Elongated stitches: Rows are purled while wrapping the yarn twice around the needle for each stitch, creating long, loose loops that are then manipulated in the following row.
• Drop-stitch technique: Extra wraps are intentionally dropped from the needle, elongating the stitches and creating an open, lacy quality.
• Cluster stitch (k3tog with yarn-over): Three elongated stitches are slipped, returned to the left needle, and then knitted together — but not removed from the needle — before a yarn-over and a second k1 are worked into the same three stitches. This creates a gathered, textural cluster that is the hallmark of the pattern stitch.
• Purl rows: Used both as right-side texture rows and as wrong-side return rows throughout the pattern stitch repeat.
• Stockinette stitch: Alternating sections of knit on the right side and purl on the wrong side provide smooth contrast panels and are used for the lower body and shoulder shaping sections.
• Yarn-over (yo): Used within the cluster stitch to maintain stitch count after the k3tog decrease.

The combination of k3tog, yarn-overs, double wraps, and drop stitches gives the Lourdes Top its distinctive gathered, elongated texture. While each individual technique is accessible to a knitter with some experience, working them in combination and maintaining correct stitch counts across the repeat is what places this pattern firmly at the intermediate skill level.

Materials

Yarn

The pattern calls for Berroco Pima 100™, a 100-gram hank yarn, in colorway #8412 Phlox. The quantity required ranges from 4 to 6 hanks depending on size.