Womans Cardigan in Sirdar Cotton DK - 7352 - Downloadable PDF

Sirdar Cotton DK Women's Cardigan Knitting Pattern 7352 – Detailed Summary

This Sirdar pattern 7352 is a downloadable PDF knitting pattern for a classic women's cardigan worked in Sirdar Cotton DK yarn. The design is a versatile, elegant cardigan featuring a beautiful combination of lace and cable panels set against a stocking stitch background, making it a rewarding project for knitters with some experience of working cables and lace. The pattern is notable for its inclusive size range, covering six sizes from a 32/34 inch to a 52/54 inch bust, with actual finished measurements spanning 90 cm to 141 cm (approximately 35½ to 55½ inches), making it accessible to a wide range of body shapes.

What Is Being Made

The finished garment is a women's button-front cardigan with set-in or shaped sleeves. The cardigan has a full length ranging from 56 cm to 69 cm (22 to 27¼ inches) depending on size, and features adjustable sleeves with a length of approximately 44 to 46 cm (17¼ to 18 inches). The front bands incorporate buttons — 6 buttons for the smaller sizes and 7 buttons for the larger sizes — giving the cardigan a neat, structured finish. The combination of lace detailing and cable work gives the garment a timeless, feminine aesthetic that works well as both a casual and smart layering piece.

Knitting Techniques Used

• Thumb cast-on method – used to begin the back and other sections, giving a neat and elastic edge suitable for cotton yarn.
• Cable knitting – the pattern features a C6B cable, which involves slipping 3 stitches to a cable needle held at the back, knitting the next 3 stitches, then knitting the 3 stitches from the cable needle. This creates the classic twisted rope cable effect.
• Lace knitting – yarn-forward (yfwd) increases combined with slip-stitch decreases (s1, k1, psso) and k2tog decreases create an openwork lace pattern that runs alongside the cable panels.
• Shaping – standard knitting shaping techniques including increasing and decreasing are used throughout to shape the body, armholes, and sleeves.
• Tension/gauge swatching – the pattern strongly emphasises checking tension before beginning, which is especially important with cotton yarn as it behaves differently from wool.

Stitches Used

• Stocking stitch – the main background fabric of the cardigan, worked by alternating knit rows on the right side and purl rows on the wrong side. The stated tension is 22 stitches and 28 rows to 10 cm over stocking stitch on 4 mm needles.
• Lace and cable pattern – a combined stitch pattern with a tension of 11 stitches to 4 cm on 4 mm needles, worked over a specific stitch repeat across the fronts and/or body panels.
• Purl rows – used as wrong-side rows throughout and as specific pattern rows within the lace and cable design.
• k2tog (knit two together) – a right-leaning decrease used in both shaping and lace pattern formation.
• s1, k1, psso (slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over) – a left-leaning decrease used in the lace pattern to create directional openwork.
• yfwd (yarn forward) – used to create decorative eyelets within the lace sections of the pattern.
• C6B (Cable 6 Back) – the signature cable stitch of this design, creating a bold six-stitch rope cable.

Materials Required

The primary yarn specified is Sirdar Cotton DK in shade 528 (colourway F039). The quantity required ranges from 5 to 9 balls of 100g depending on the size being made. Sirdar Cotton DK is a smooth, mercerised double kn