A Tank Top to Get You Thinking about Summer

I knew I wanted to share this particular knitting pattern with you (mostly because I really want to knit one, too) and I grappled with the idea of whether it was time to pull together a roundup of tank top knitting patterns.

I think it might be a little early in the season for that, at least where I live, but I promise to have more tank top and summer top patterns for you soon.

In the meantime, I think Maxie’s Tank Top pattern from Ainur Berkimbayeva deserves its own post.

This sleek V-neck is worked in one piece from the top down. It uses fingering weight yarn (in particular, Knit Picks Lindy Chain, which is a linen and cotton blend and a chainette yarn that’s great for summer stitching) and has an allover ribbed pattern. This allows you to knit it with a lot of negative ease and still have it fit comfortably. It also includes bust darts for a better fit.

The pattern comes in nine sizes with an actual finished chest circumference of 23.75 to 50 inches, or 60.5 to 127 cm. The sample is shown with 7 inches/17.8 cm of negative ease, but the pattern includes tips on choosing the right size for you. It also says you can use the back neck portion of the pattern as your gauge swatch, which is fun.

Tank tops are great to wear by themselves when the weather is warm, but they are also great layering pieces, under a sheer top or even under a long-sleeved shirt or sweater when the weather gets colder.

I feel like I need a lot more tank tops and summer things that I made myself, so this one is definitely going on my list.

You can grab the pattern with a pay what you can cost model (please support designers the best that you can!) on Ravelry.

[Photo: Ainur Berkimbayeva]

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The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.”

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them.

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits.

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves.

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit.

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy.

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]

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