Yes, it’s a new pattern release, it’s been a minute! Or pattern drop, as they say nowadays. I’ve stopped gatekeeping, as they also say nowadays.
In the olden days I would have said a new pattern is now available to purchase.
I have finally stopped casting on another version of this tank top as an excuse to test knit the pattern because it’s already been test knitted by my lovely, kind friend who is the best test knitter. I just loved knitting it so much!
The Tenorite Tank Top is the tank top version of the Tenorite Waistcoat and came about because of a request from a gardener. They loved the waistcoat but wanted a tank top version for working in their garden, so they could have their arms free to dig while keeping their body at just the right temperature.
And that is one of the reasons I love wool so much. It keeps you warm when you feel chilly at the start of your session, but as you warm up it helps to keep you cool, so you don’t have to keep taking layers on and off. It’s why sportspeople in the old days, in the early 20th century and probably before that, wore wool when playing sports – it helped regulate their temperature.
It is why wool is so amazing! It is especially amazing if you are a person whose body has decided to bless you in mid life with those hot flushes. You can wear it longer than other man-made materials. It is also perfect for those moments when a coat is just too hot and nothing isn’t right either!
As some of you may already know, I love picking up stitches. Once you have set your foundation up, then picking up stitches is a joy. However, I totally understand that some knitters haven’t learnt these techniques, or sometimes, even if you do love picking up stitches, it’s great to knit something that doesn’t need any stitches picking up. There are no stitches to pick up on the Tenorite Tank Top.
It’s like magic. It’s also like many things. Even if you do know how to do it and don’t mind doing it, it is sometimes wonderful to knit something and know once it’s cast off, that’s it, it’s done. Almost!
I also love designing ‘fake’ edges. That is fun to do. And I love helping knitters feel the joy of knitting – how it feels in your mind, how it relaxes the body and, after all that, you have something wonderful to wear and remind you of those soothing stitches.
Sometimes you just need a small step to get into that feeling. This is the perfect small step. Knitted in chunky wool, with no sleeves and no stitches to pick up, it has a simple three-needle cast-off for the shoulders, if you wanted,
and mattress stitch for the side seams.
The Tenorite Tank Top only has two straight seams, which can be done in an evening. One evening and it’s completed.
Seams seem – ha! – a little bit controversial at the moment. But seams joined together with mattress stitch create structure for the garment and help it sit on your body perfectly. I understand why they are getting bad press. I loved knitting my Clacton Jumper, the first Purl &Jane top down jumper pattern, to know that when I cast off the body, that’s it, it’s done. But I have designed it with fake seams to still give it some structure.
With the Tenorite Tank Top, there are just those two straight seams. So once you have knitted the front and back, you can join them together and you’re done. And I think that’s another lovely thing about this design. It’s a straightforward knit that lets you enjoy the knitting without too many things interrupting those soothing stitches.
The Tenorite Tank Top is knitted with Studio Donegal Soft Chunky. It is merino wool spun in Donegal to create a traditional Irish tweed.
I love knitting with this yarn for many reasons. One of them is because of the heritage of the yarn. The mill that makes this wool can trace its heritage back to the early tradition of hand spinning, so going back centuries when Irish tweed yarns were spun, woven and knitted in local homes. You can see homes that did the same in Yorkshire, they are the ones from the 17th century with lots of mullion windows to let the light into the spinning room.
These are ‘The Genuine Donegal Tweed’, which has earned worldwide recognition. They are one of the last remaining companies producing this indigenous and authentic product in Ireland.
Every yarn in the Purl &Jane Family has been curated because heritage is just as important to me as the feel of the yarn and how it knits and crochets.
It’s tricky to share with words how important this is to me, just like it’s difficult to share with words how it feels to knit with different yarns. Just like how difficult it is to explain what love feels like. And that’s the thing about knitting. Each wool has its own qualities and feel.
That is why I knitted a version holding one strand each of Purl &Jane Yorkshire Yarn Bluefaced Leicester Aran and Jamieson’s Spindrift together to create a chunky weight. I love this look!
I used Ecru in the aran and a dark shade in the Spindrift, but this technique could go on creating so many different looks and different versions.
And I’ll be excited to see what you knit!
The Tenorite Tank Top is a simple, satisfying knit designed to give you that lovely feeling of getting on with the stitches, enjoying the yarn and, before you know it, having something wonderful to wear.