242 Laurel Top-Down Hoodie - Cardigan Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Valley Superwash

242 Laurel Top-Down Hoodie – Cardigan Knitting Pattern for Women by Valley Yarns

The 242 Laurel Top-Down Hoodie is a women's knitted cardigan hoodie pattern designed by Kirsten Hipsky and published by Valley Yarns. This beginner-friendly pattern produces a cozy, casual hooded cardigan worked seamlessly from the top down, meaning the yoke, body, and sleeves are constructed in a continuous flow that eliminates the need for complex seaming. The result is a relaxed, wearable everyday hoodie with a classic cardigan front opening and button closure.

What Is Being Made

This pattern creates a top-down hooded cardigan for women, available in a range of finished sizes: approximately 36, 39, 42, 45, and 48 inches in circumference. The garment features a structured front band, a hood, set-in-style sleeves worked seamlessly, and a button band with buttonholes. The combination of a hoodie silhouette with a cardigan front makes it a versatile layering piece suitable for a wide range of casual occasions.

Construction Techniques

• Top-down construction: The garment begins at the neckline and grows downward through the yoke, separating into body and sleeves as the work progresses. This approach allows knitters to try on the piece as they go and make fit adjustments before completing the garment.
• Worked flat and in the round: The pattern combines both methods. Certain sections — particularly the front bands and hood — are worked flat in rows, while the body and sleeves transition to being worked in the round on circular needles, minimizing finishing work.
• Raglan-style yoke shaping: Increases are worked at regular intervals on right-side rows to simultaneously shape the left front, right front, back, and both sleeves. Markers are placed to delineate each section, and paired m1 (make 1) increases flank each marked raglan line, adding 8 stitches every increase row.
• Buttonhole technique: The front band includes worked buttonholes to accommodate a button closure, a fundamental skill for cardigan construction that this beginner-level pattern incorporates in an accessible way.

Stitches and Stitch Patterns

• Knit and purl combinations: The body fabric incorporates a 2x2 rib-style texture using sequences of knit 2, purl 2 repeats, which provide elasticity and visual interest across the yoke and body.
• Garter stitch borders: Front bands and certain edge sections are worked in garter stitch (knitting every row when worked flat), providing a neat, non-curling edge that frames the cardigan opening cleanly.
• Make 1 (m1) increases: Used systematically at raglan markers to shape the yoke, these lifted increases are nearly invisible and integrate smoothly into the fabric.
• Slip marker (sm): Stitch markers are slipped throughout to maintain the integrity of each garment section during the simultaneous yoke increases.

Materials – Yarn

The pattern calls for Valley Yarns Valley Superwash in colorway #563. This yarn is composed of 100% extrafine superwash merino wool, offered in 50-gram skeins with approximately 97 yards per skein. Depending on the size being knitted, the pattern requires 13 to 19 skeins. The superwash treatment makes the finished garment machine washable, a practical quality for a casual everyday hoodie. Extrafine merino provides a soft, smooth hand that is comfortable against the skin and takes dye beautifully.

The yarn is classified as worsted weight, which knits up at a satisfying pace and produces a fabric with good stitch definition — ideal for showing off the textured rib patterns used throughout this design.

Materials – Needles

The pattern requires US size 7 circular needles as well as US size 7 double-pointed needles, or whatever needle size is necessary to achieve the correct gauge. Circular needles accommodate the large stitch counts of the top-down yoke and body, while double-pointed needles are used for working the sleeves in the round once