Nessa Women's Cabled Coatigan By Sarah Hatton in West Yorkshire Spinners - WYS1000266 - Downloadable PDF

Nessa Women's Cabled Coatigan by Sarah Hatton – Pattern Summary

The Nessa Women's Cabled Coatigan is a beautifully structured, statement knitwear design by Sarah Hatton, available as a downloadable PDF pattern. This design sits at the intersection of a coat and a cardigan — hence the term "coatigan" — offering a longer, more substantial silhouette than a traditional cardigan while retaining the open-front wearability that makes it a versatile layering piece. It is rated as an intermediate skill level project, making it ideal for knitters who are comfortable with cable techniques and multi-stitch pattern management.

What Is Being Made

The Nessa Coatigan is a women's long-line cabled cardigan coat designed to be worn open at the front. Its generous length, structured cables, and basket stitch body panels give it a rich, textural appearance suited to cooler seasons. The design is graded across nine sizes, fitting chest measurements ranging from 71/76 cm (28/30 in) up to 152/158 cm (60/62 in), with actual finished sizes spanning from 108 cm to 178 cm in circumference. This impressive size range makes the pattern highly inclusive and accessible to a wide range of body types.

The full length of the garment ranges from 66 cm to 79 cm depending on size, and the sleeve length after the cuff turnback ranges from 36 cm to 44 cm. The cuff turnback detail is a refined finishing touch that adds a tailored, polished look to the sleeves.

Yarn and Materials

The specified yarn for this pattern is West Yorkshire Spinners The Croft Aran in the colourway Tirvister (1146). This is a premium British aran-weight yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners, a brand celebrated for its high-quality wool sourced from British sheep. The Croft Aran range is known for its rustic yet refined character, making it particularly well-suited to cable and textured stitch patterns where stitch definition is essential.

The quantity required ranges from 8 to 16 balls of 100g depending on the size being knitted, reflecting the generous, coat-length nature of this design. Knitters should ensure they purchase sufficient yarn from the same dye lot to maintain colour consistency throughout the project.

Needles and Equipment

• One pair of 4.5mm (UK7 / US7) knitting needles — used for ribbing, cuffs, and any smaller-gauge sections
• Two pairs of 5mm (UK6 / US8) knitting needles — the second pair is specifically required for the three-needle cast off technique used to join seams
• Four stitch markers — for tracking pattern repeats and shaping points
• A cable needle — essential for working all cable crossings throughout the garment

Tension

Achieving correct tension is especially important in this pattern because two different stitch patterns are used across the garment, each with its own gauge. The pattern specifies:

• 17 stitches and 28 rows to 10 cm measured over basket stitch
• 27 stitches and 28 rows to 10 cm measured over cable pattern

The significant difference in stitch count between the two tension swatches highlights how much cables compress fabric horizontally. Knitters should swatch both stitch patterns before beginning to ensure accurate sizing, as the interplay between these two gauges is fundamental to the garment's fit and drape.

Techniques Used

The Nessa Coatigan employs a range of classic and satisfying knitting techniques that make it a rewarding project for an intermediate knitter looking to develop their skills:

• Cable knitting — the defining feature of this design, worked using a cable needle to create twisted rope-like columns of stitches that run vertically through the fabric
• Basket stitch — a textured background stitch pattern that creates a woven, grid-like appearance, adding visual interest to the body panels between the cables
• Three-needle cast off — a professional finishing technique in which stitches from two needles are cast off simultaneously,