Nantucket Tank

Published and distributed by Classic Elite Yarns, available in their free webletter, Issue 36!

I can’t tell you how excited I was when a design I submitted was accepted for this newsletter. I love Classic Elite Yarns, I love that it’s based in Lowell (I earned my A.A. in Lowell and love New England mill towns). The designs have always been solid but I’m especially thrilled that Pam Allen was recently named the creative director. To know that my design passed muster at C.E. is just huge for me.

The Nantucket Tank is a simple design but it knit up very quickly and the yarn was an absolute joy to knit. I hope I have time to whip up one for myself before the summer is over! My track record on knitting summer knits I can actually use is not great. Here is a version of my “blurb” for the pattern and some additional pics, including a closeup of the cable used on the edge. I love how blue these pictures came out, it must have been the A.M. light. I do NOT love how grainy they are. Sorry =/

“Like most knitters, I enjoy a good, snowy winter. Being a native New Englander I get to enjoy many bitterly cold days and I do it without complaining–it justifies my love for wool. When it finally does warm up I’m faced with the question–what to knit? Knitting with cotton and bamboo presents unique challenges and limitations, but I’m learning that these are alchemical properties for an emerging designer! Knitting a swatch of Classic Elite Cotton Bamboo confirmed all my suspicions–this yarn was cool and SLINKY! It draped beautiful and seemed cool to the touch, exactly the sort of thing I want to slip on as the mercury rises.

I started to think of stitch patterns that would make sense and lace naturally came to mind. This year has been a real “cable moment” for me–almost everything I’ve made or been attracted to has had one. Bamboo and cotton aren’t the sort of fibers that call out for cables, in fact they can be difficult to work (I used a bamboo double pointed needle as a cable needle to cut down on it’s slippery tendency). I wanted to give it a go anyway and the result is something quite nautical–it reminds me of rope or the lines left behind in the sand after waves recede. It is flat and almost imperceptible but it makes an interesting edge and adds dimension to the smooth fabric.

I had to borrow from Nantucket Island to name this top. Both make it slightly easier to put away the wool for another New England summer.”

Nantucket Tank

Hope everyone is enjoying the slow New England thaw…

CR

P.S. Cecily Glowik at Classic Elite (love her Four Seasons Vine Vest) filled me in on the Skye Tweed Sweater mystery (at the bottom of the entry). It is one of her designs and it was taken off the Classic Elite website when Skye Tweed was discontinued. I say we petition her for a new version, I barely took mine off this winter!