The Blossom Tank

By Cardigang Knits Oct 9, 2022

A step-by-step guide to knitting the Blossom Tank.

Ever gotten halfway through a project and thought “Hang on, am I even doing this right?” We have 🙋‍♀️

That’s why we’ve created these step-by-step guides to walk you through the knitting process.

Even if you've never knitted before, we'll take you from zero to knitting hero in no time 🦸‍♀️

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Before we get started on the pattern we suggest you spend a bit of time learning the basic stitches you’ll need to complete your masterpiece. The Blossom Tank is made using a combination of knit and purl stitches. We put these together to make a 1x1 rib stitch, and most of our tank is a garter stitch that just uses knit stitches. You'll want to be confident with the knit and purl stitches before you start. You'll also want to get a hang of tying a slip knot and casting on your stitches which is the first step in any knitting project.

📹 Watch How To Tie A Slip Knot

📹 Watch How To Cast On

📹 Watch How To Knit Stitch

📹 Watch How To Purl Stitch

You can use the yarn that came in your kit to practice with. Once you've got these mastered you'll find the pattern a cinch!

👩‍🏫 For a more comprehensive lesson on the basics of knitting visit our Learn How To Knit page.

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Looking for something a little more personal?

Book in for a one-on-one knitting or crochet session with the
Cardigang Hotline ☎️. These sessions are designed to help give you the skills you need to create a masterpiece. Whether you're just starting out, or you've got a specific question or problem (dropped a stitch, no stress!), we're here to get you out of a bind.

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TEST YOUR TENSION

First thing's first. Before you start your project, make sure your tension (how tightly or loosely your knitting is) is juuuust right 🥣 We do this by knitting a “tension swatch”. It's a bit like goldilocks, if the tension is too tight, your piece will be too small, and if it's too loose it may not hold its shape and might be too big.

If done correctly, your 10x10cm knitted swatch should be 11 stitches wide and 16 rows high when knitted in stockinette on 6mm needles.

To test your gauge grab your needles and chunky cotton yarn. Cast on 16 stitches, then knit in stockinette stitch (knit first row, purl second repeat) until your piece is just longer than 10cm high. Then measure your 10x10cm swatch and count the stitches and rows within your 10x10 square.

Gauge Tension Swatch Count Your Stitches

💡 We know knitting a gauge swatch can seem like a bit of a drain, but it's really important because the difference of a few millimetres in a gauge swatch can lead to a finished piece this is quite different in size to what you intended.

Onto the knit

SIZING

You can knit your tank in size 6-8, 10-12, 14-16, 18-20 or 22-24. Your pattern is read like this: 6-8 (10-12, 14-16, 18-20, 22-24). Make sure you're following the right instructions for your chosen size.

MEASUREMENTS

Laying flat, your finished piece will measure approximately:

6-8: 44cm wide x 41cm high
10-12: 47cm wide x 43cm high
14-16: 52cm wide x 45cm high
18-20: 57cm wide x 48cm high
22-24: 60cm wide x 48cm high

USING YOUR PATTERN

One of the things we found the hardest when we were learning to knit was keeping track of our rows. Before we were able to easily identify a row of stitches we used a pen and paper to keep track. That's why we've included handy circles in our patterns - you can tick them off as you go. The dashed circles are for the larger sizes.

LET'S KNIT UP A STORM

We knit our masterpiece in two pieces, starting with the back panel and then the front. Then we will sew our pieces together to complete the tank.

BACK

We knit the back panel from the bottom up.

STEP 1

Cast on your stitches. We recommend using the long tail cast-on method when using the chunky cotton yarn. It's a lot easier to get the new stitches onto your needle.

This is what it will look like when all your stitches are cast on.

cast on

STEP 2

Complete 4 rows of 1x1 rib stitch. Remember to move your yarn from the front to the back of your work as you alternate knit and purl stitches.

📹 Watch How To Do A Rib Stitch

Rib stitch

STEP 3

Next, you'll begin knitting in garter stitch. Garter stitch is made by knitting every row. Simple!

garter stitch

STEP 4 - 6

We're going to start creating some shape around the sides for our arm holes. We do this by knitting some stitches together at the start and end of every second row.

📹 Watch How To Knit Two Stitches Together

This is what it will look like when you've completed steps 4 to 6.

decrease stitches body shaping

decrease stitches

STEP 7

We're going to split the piece in half now, so we can knit up each shoulder.

In this step, you'll knit two stitches, then knit two together, then knit 4 more stitches before knitting the last two stitches together.

split work

STEP 8

Flip your work over and we're going to work those same stitches again. The rest of the stitches will just hang out on your needles, we'll come back to them once the first shoulder is finished.

knit up side one

STEP 9 - 14

Continue decreasing stitches across your rows as instructed 🚀

STEP 15

Cast off the stitches for your first should and cut your yarn from the ball. Secure the last stitch by threading the tail through the stitch and pulling it to secure.

📹 Watch How To Cast Off

shoulder one

STEP 16

⚡️ Rejoin your yarn by tying a knot to the base of the stitch closest to the end of your needle. This is what that looks like.

You'll then cast off the instructed number of stitches before you knit up the second shoulder.

STEP 17 - 24

We knit up the second shoulder - no surprises here.

Well done 💪 You've finished the back!

FRONT

The front knits up the same way as the back but we knit our neckline over 21 rows. That means we split the work earlier on the front panel.