Marseille Top-Down Cardigan in West Yorkshire Spinners Solstice 4ply - Downloadable PDF

Marseille Top-Down Cardigan in West Yorkshire Spinners Solstice 4ply – Pattern Summary

What You Are Making

The Marseille Top-Down Cardigan is an elegant, wearable knitted cardigan designed by Sarah Hatton and worked in West Yorkshire Spinners Solstice 4ply yarn. As the name suggests, the garment is constructed from the top down, meaning knitting begins at the neckline and progresses toward the hem, allowing for easy length adjustments and minimal seaming. The result is a light, graceful cardigan suited to warmer seasons, offering a refined silhouette with subtle drape and sheen. This is an advanced-level knitting pattern, available as a downloadable PDF.

Design and Aesthetic

The Marseille cardigan is designed to showcase the natural beauty and luxurious handle of Solstice 4ply. Its construction lends itself to a fluid, flattering fit, and the yarn's inherent drape and subtle sheen give the finished garment an elevated, almost ethereal quality. The pattern is well-suited to those who enjoy sophisticated knitwear that transitions effortlessly across the seasons. The PDF references several colourways including Desert Lava, Canopy Vine, Honey Nectar, and Ocean Breeze, illustrating the range of tonal and natural-inspired shades available in the Solstice palette.

Construction Technique

The cardigan is worked top-down, a construction method popular in modern knitwear design. This approach offers several practical advantages:

• No sewing required at the yoke: The yoke is shaped seamlessly as you knit downward, integrating the sleeves and body in one continuous piece.
• Easy length customisation: Because you work from the neck to the hem, you can try the garment on as you go and adjust the body or sleeve length to suit your measurements before casting off.
• Minimal finishing: Top-down construction typically reduces the number of seams and finishing steps needed at the end of the project.

This method requires a confident understanding of shaping, working in the round, and managing multiple stitches simultaneously, which is why the pattern is rated as advanced difficulty.

Techniques Used

As an advanced knitting pattern, the Marseille Top-Down Cardigan is likely to incorporate a range of techniques that experienced knitters will find engaging and rewarding:

• Top-down yoke construction – shaping the garment from the neckline downward
• Raglan or set-in sleeve shaping – increasing stitches at regular intervals to form the yoke
• Stitch pattern work – the design is intended to highlight the drape and sheen of Solstice 4ply, suggesting textural or lace-influenced stitch detailing
• Tension/gauge management – the pattern explicitly emphasises the importance of working a tension square before beginning, a critical step for achieving the correct garment size and fabric quality
• Needle size adjustment – knitters are instructed to adjust needle size up or down based on their tension swatch results

Stitches Used

While the full stitch list is contained within the complete PDF, the pattern is designed around techniques appropriate to a 4ply weight yarn on fine needles, which commonly includes:

• Knit and purl stitches – forming the foundation of the fabric
• Increases and decreases – used throughout the yoke and shaping sections to create the top-down silhouette
• Ribbing or border stitches – typically used at the cuffs, hem, and button bands of a cardigan

Yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners Solstice 4ply

West Yorkshire Spinners Solstice 4ply is a premium natural fibre yarn specifically developed for lightweight, breathable garments. Its fibre composition brings together several responsibly sourced materials:

• Falkland Island wool – described as one of the world's purest wools, offering a clean white fleece and supreme softness