FREE PATTERN: Inca Cotton Tank
Time: 6 hours
Cost: $12 – $14
Skills: knitting in the round with circular needles
Level: beginnner
You can wear it with the ribbon woven through the whole thing, or (how I’m wearing it now) with the ribbon woven through just the eyelets between front &/or back straps and cinched up a bit.
Calling this a 1-ball pattern seems a little cheaty. Technically, it does use just 1 hank of yarn, but they’re big hanks. But, I don’t control the put-up size, so there. 1 ball it is!
Inca Cotton is a thick/think super-soft, baby-yummy cotton, but a little sheddy to knit, so don’t wear black, or it will look like you rubbed yourself all over with a cotton ball.
Yarn
- 1 hank (about 8 oz) Henry’s Attic Inca Cotton (100% organic cotton), Sage (a green/natural twist)
- 1.5 yds 1/2″ sage green grosgrain ribbon (verision 1) or 1 or 2 1-yd lengths green or teal velvet ribbon (the velvet stuff was from The Ribbon Jar)
Size
Women’s M, with a lot of wiggle room. Will fit a 34 – 40″ bust, measured at widest part. I was going to try it on with progressively more wildly padded bras to see just how far it would go, but I can’t find it. It’s either in a hamper, or was crammed away somewhere stupid in my last mad dash-and-stash cleaning frenzy.
Needles
US 10.5 24″ circular
Gauge
13 st = 4″ in stockinette st
Instructions
CO 100. Join & PM, being careful not to twist stitches.
Eyelet top edge: *K2tog, YO, repeat to end.
K 21 rnds.
Place dart markers: K40, PM, K10, PM, K40, PM, K8 (not quite finishing row).
Starting 2 st before row marker, ssk, SM, K2tog, the continue in stockinette, repeating ssk/K2tog decreases around each marker. You’ll work all your increases & decreases in the same way, starting before that first marker (since the rnd marker is also your 1st dart marker).
K1 rnd
Repeat decrease rnd
K 10 rnd
Increase around each marker by K tfbl on stitch before and after each marker
K 3 rnds
Increase rnd, as above.
K 4 rnds
Increase rnd
K 5 rnds
Increase rnd
K 6 rnds
Increase rnd
K 7 rnds
Increase rnd
Work 2 rnds in seed & BO.
With RS facing, examine bust darts. Each side will have 2 darts centered in the middle. Follow stitches up from darts to top edge, then count 4 eyelets out from that stitch & mark with a pin or locking stitch marker. Repeat for remaining 3 darts
With WS facing, working from one of the front strap markers, PU 4 st around each marker thusly: 1 into the stitch on the left of the eyelet, one into the eyelet hole itself, 1 into the stitch above the eyelet, and one into the stitch on the right of the eyelet.
Work 48 rows in garter, slipping the first stitch of every row. BO.
Repeat for other side, being sure you’re starting on the front & not the back marker.
Sew each strap into place over the marked position on the back.
Weave in all ends.
Starting at the start of the row, which will be comparatively untidy, weave the ribbon back and forth between the eyelets so that imperfect spot will be obscured by ribbon (i.e., the ribbon should go over that part, not under it). Tie in a bow to suit.
June 1st, 2006 at 6:53 pm
HELP Newbie to knitting what does pm mean :(
June 1st, 2006 at 7:26 pm
Place marker. You put a stitch marker there to flag you to future decreases & increases.
June 2nd, 2006 at 7:28 am
Hi! I would really enjoy making this but I know that this size is to small. My bust is more of a 40ish. Would it be possible for a larger size?
TIA
Shima
June 2nd, 2006 at 7:49 am
Sure, I’ll math out some bigger sizes this weekend.
June 13th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
I really like the tank, but I have one question. Can you just knit and leave the eyelet row off?
June 14th, 2006 at 3:30 am
Of course, although it’s nice, because they allow you to adjust the fit a bit more. But I just realized a way that looks so much cuter than how it’s shown. It still uses the eyelets, but really only needs them between the straps. I’ll take a picture and put it up tomorrow.
June 19th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
Love the tank. Can you post the gauge for how many rows per 4 inches? And also what is the finish size, wide and length? Thanks.
June 26th, 2006 at 12:16 am
Oh I look forward to the more mathy version for 40″ bust! I CO the 100 sts and took a look and realized even a shoe horn wouldn’t get me into it! Thank you for posting it!
July 6th, 2006 at 5:35 am
Great tank! What size bust does your pattern fit? I think I’m a little larger than it is. I don’t mind figuring it out, but I need a starting point. So far I haven’t been good at estimating stretch. :^) Thanks!
July 30th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
[...] Inca Cotton Tank [...]
August 15th, 2006 at 7:39 am
I love this tank. I wear this one with pride. Thank you so much for the pattern.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
Thanks so much for this pattern. I wore it and got lots of compliments. Your pattern was very easy to follow and adjust.
February 21st, 2007 at 7:24 pm
I have never seen a tank top that I wanted to knit, untill now! This is horribly cute!! If I hadn’t just bought yarn for the laced up gloves and garter set in your book ( LOVE THE BOOK!) I would make this immediately. For now, it’ll have to wait. But not for long ;)
March 16th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
What a cute top!! I can’t wait to email my daughter with this one. Inca is one of my favorite yarns. Also a fav is Rowan Allseasons and Rowan Calmer. This top would look great in those yards also.
FYI – Inca machine washes and machine dries beautifully. WHAT?!?!?!?!? you may ask? I discovered this when my daughter was pregnant with her now 5-yr. old son. She fell in love with the yarn but I am never too keen on making anything for a baby that isn’t washable, and what new mother has time to block and dry flat? So I knit up a swatch and washed/dried it a few times. Shrinkage was minimal, although if anyone gives this a try, I would suggest figuring it out before you do a project to make sure you make it big enough.
June 14th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Is there any other kind of yarn we could use.I don’t thinkl I can get this in Canada?.I love it is so pretty.
June 15th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Any worsted cotton would work, but the hand and texture would be different depending on what you used. Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton is smooth instead of thick and thin, but as far as the hand (wuzzy ungassed drapiness), it’s the closest. Bernat cottontots also has that same matte, soft-twist feel (versus kitchen cottons, which are smoother, less pillowy and more twine-like, and more plies).
July 8th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Is “tfbl” the same thing as “tbl,” through the back loop? Or do you mean through the front, then back?
July 8th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
knit through front and back of loop (increase)
September 19th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
SO pretty! It may even inspire me to pick up my needles again.
December 4th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Hi,
I have the tiniest ribcage in Christendom. If my bust size is 31 to 32 but my boobs are a C, do you think this badboy will fit in a medium? I ask because, due to my normal boob size/abnormal ribcage, I cannot at all be sure of what will work…sad. I should just be a comic book character…
February 20th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Hi,
I’m a newbie. Which cast on do you recommend for this project? I typcially use a single cast on, but one of my books says its not good for garments. Thanks!
February 20th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Use whatever you like. It doesn’t really have any special requirements, so anything you’re comfy with should be fine, as long as you’re not too tight.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Do you happen to have the math worked out for a smaller size? I have a pretty small bust size–32 on a good day. I’m afraid this will be too loose.
Thanks!
May 13th, 2008 at 12:38 am
[...] to make was a summer tank top so I searched through hundreds of tank top patterns until I found the one I wanted. Even after I found this pattern I kept looking and kept thinking about how beautiful this [...]
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
[...] bei thriftyknitter Inca cotton Tank [...]
January 21st, 2009 at 10:58 am
what does ssk, SM mean? Slip, slip, Knit? PM = place marker, but can’t figure out SM.
would love to make this, so plz help.
January 21st, 2009 at 7:15 pm
slip marker
March 7th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I tried making this once before and it came out WAY too small in the bust area. Have you posted a bigger size yet?
May 28th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Am making the inca cotton tank for daughter. do you have stitch count for a women’s small? Thank you
May 31st, 2010 at 1:09 pm
For a small, 10% smaller should be about right. I’d co 90 st, then swap this out for the place markers row:
K36, PM, K9, PM, K36, PM, K7
and proceed as directed and decreasing the row count by 1 in each section that suggests more than 3 rows.
You’ll may need to adjust strap placement, but that should be straightforward.
May 31st, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Thanks for the smaller size adjustment! I’m about a 32 – with a padded bra… :) And for suggesting the Cottontots… that’s what I was planning on since I have some stashed! Great pattern!
November 19th, 2010 at 2:53 am
Did you ever work out a larger size? I have made a few of these tiny ones for friends but I would really like to know how to work some larger ones, PLEASE POST!!!!
May 15th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Beautiful piece. Lovely work!
May 29th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
This is a lovely halter top… tempted to knit one up using the yarn used on the sample pictures (Inca cotton).
From what I see, it is fitted around the waist, right?
I am shor twaisted and only five feet two inches….. need tops that skim my figure, or I look boxy and sumpy.
May
October 15th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Beautiful! I love the length. Thanks.