Paintbrush Tank by Briana Arlene

My Sister Knits has some tank tops and vests on display that are good choices for summer knitting! They only take up a little room on your lap and they are lightweight. Plus, they can be finished quickly and in the summer I like projects with that quality!

We have a sample of local designer Briana Arlene’s Paintbrush Tank. It has some delightful design characteristics that make it both unique and fun to knit! Plus, you’ll learn something new and you’ll feel quite clever.

This tank is knit from the bottom up so you get the fun stuff first. Some knitters are put off by bottom-up projects but don’t let that rob you of the fun of making this! You merely need to measure carefully to get the correct length. Laying it on a top that you like can be helpful.

Wooldreamers Saona

First off is the Tubular Cast On. Briana explains this so well you won’t need a video tutorial!  It’s a simple version of this particular cast on. Then you get to create a broken rib at the bottom that looks so good! You work a regular 1x1 rib for a certain number of rounds and then you throw in a purl only round.

Briana sprinkles useful notes throughout the pattern that explain her directions in more detail or tell you why you’re doing what you’re doing.

For the flower stems, you get to do a little bit of stranded knitting, only carrying the contrast color over two stitches so it’s super easy and a great introduction to this type of colorwork. 

A close-up photo of the flowers.

Then you get to make the first set of flowers. This is done with 3 special stitches and slipping some stitches to create a raised flower. These three special stitches are thoroughly explained in the Abbreviations on page 4 of the pattern. They’re fun and, again, easy! You continue straight into creating the second set of flower stems and flowers, using the same special stitches. You can follow the chart or the written directions. If you’re a bit unsure about how make these flowers, we encourage you to try it out on a swatch first, following the directions exactly!

Briana uses the sloped bind off method to create the neckline, leaving a smooth, angled edge that makes picking up stitches a pleasure. She also gives knitters a Neckband Pick Up Table as a guide for numbers of stitches to pick up in different parts of the neckline! 

Wooldreamers Cautiva

German Short Rows are used to shape the shoulders and a three-needle bind off is used to join the shoulder seams. If you have never done either of these, what better time to start than now?

Last, Briana has us do a tubular bind off. Work the two tubular bind off set-up rounds in the pattern. Then go to this video to see how to graft them together. You’ll be so happy that you went to the trouble of doing this bind off!

Our sample is knit with Wooldreamers Saona which is a 50/50 wool/cotton blend, ideal for this time of year. Here is more information on Saona. If you’d like to see how the stems and flowers look with Wooldreamers Cautiva, we suggest you make a swatch using Saona for the main color and Cautiva for the contrast colors. See if you get gauge and like the result.

We invite you into the shop to examine our Paintbrush Tank sample and play with color selection!

Happy knitting,