753 Hendrie Park Cardigan - Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Brimfield

753 Hendrie Park Cardigan – Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Brimfield

The 753 Hendrie Park Cardigan is a beautifully feminine, tunic-length women's cardigan knitting pattern designed by Karen Marlatt and worked in the luxurious Valley Yarns Brimfield. Ideal for intermediate knitters, this pattern combines classic construction with elegant detailing to produce a wearable, everyday cardigan with a refined, park-ready aesthetic. The finished garment is designed to be worn with 3–5 inches of positive ease, giving it a relaxed, comfortable silhouette that flatters a range of body types.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a seamed, bottom-up women's cardigan with a tunic-length front bodice. The design features a feminine lace panel on the front bodice, adding visual interest and a delicate, decorative element to an otherwise clean and classic silhouette. The cardigan is worked in separate pieces — back, fronts, and sleeves — which are then seamed together for a structured, polished finish. Finished bust measurements range from 37 to 49 inches, accommodating a variety of sizes when worn with the recommended ease.

Construction Techniques

• Bottom-up construction: Each piece is cast on at the hem and worked upward toward the shoulders, a traditional approach that gives knitters excellent control over length and shaping.
• Seamed finishing: The individual pieces — back, fronts, and sleeves — are joined using seaming techniques, which lend the finished cardigan a neat, garment-quality structure and help it hold its shape over time.
• Armhole shaping: Stitches are bound off at the beginning of rows and then decreased every other row to create a clean, fitted armhole. For example, in the smallest size, 7 stitches are bound off on each side, followed by single decreases every other row 6 times.
• Shoulder shaping: Bind-offs at the beginning of rows shape the shoulders for a comfortable, natural fit.
• Lace detailing: A lace pattern is worked into the tunic-length front bodice, providing a decorative, airy contrast to the stockinette body. Lace knitting typically involves yarn-over increases paired with corresponding decreases to create an openwork, patterned fabric.
• Buttonhole construction: The pattern includes worked buttonholes along the front band, allowing for button closure. Buttonholes in knitting are typically created using a combination of bind-offs and cast-ons within a single row to form a neat, reinforced opening.
• Ribbed edging: A 1×1 rib stitch (k1, p1) is used on the back with smaller needles at the cast-on edge, providing a tidy, slightly elasticated border that keeps the hem from flaring.

Stitches Used

• Stockinette stitch: The primary stitch pattern for the body of the cardigan, worked by alternating knit rows on the right side and purl rows on the wrong side. Stockinette creates a smooth, flat fabric that drapes beautifully in a yarn blend like Brimfield.
• 1×1 Rib (k1, p1): Used for edgings and borders, this alternating knit-and-purl pattern creates a stretchy, textured band well-suited to hems and cuffs.
• Lace stitches: Worked on the front bodice panels, lace stitches incorporate yarn-overs and decreases to form decorative openwork motifs that add femininity and visual depth to the garment.

Materials

The pattern is written specifically for Valley Yarns Brimfield, a sumptuous worsted-weight yarn composed of 70% Extrafine Merino Wool and 30% Silk, sold in 50g/109-yard skeins. The silk content gives Brimfield a subtle sheen and exceptional drape, while the extrafine merino provides softness and warmth. The sample shown uses color 009 Garnet, a rich, deep red that enhances the cardigan's elegant character. Depending on size, the pattern calls for 11 to 14 skeins.

Two needle sizes are required: