Bradley Tank Top by Jane Ellison

Bradley Tank Top

Knitting
September 2021
Fingering (14 wpi) ?
27 stitches and 46 rows = 4 inches
in brick pattern
US 2½ - 3.0 mm
US 3 - 3.25 mm
919 - 1722 yards (840 - 1575 m)
6 sizes from 88cm/34.5ins thru to 131.5cm/51.5ins
English
This pattern is available for £4.50 GBP
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I love designing simple, easy to knit patterns that might look complicated to the beginner but are very easy to knit. And for the experienced knitter? I like to create simple patterns as refreshers in-between complicated patterns or mindless knitting, to sit with and relax and switch off.

This is the Bradley Tank Top, a simple colourwork tank top. It uses the simple slip stitch technique so you are only ever using one colour in the row. I love this brick pattern and first used it on the Charlie Cushion for one of the first Skipton studio patterns though I have used the pattern several times before that in the numerous knitting pattern books I designed for the American Market in the noughties.

I just love a simple colour work pattern that looks complicated but is super easy.

The Bradley Tank Top is worked in pieces and then sewn together.

The pattern includes two lengths, cropped (the black version in the photos) or longer (the teal version in the photos).

I chose the Jamieson’s yarn because of it’s history. It is a Shetland yarn that is exactly that, the fleece is grown, sheared and spun on the Shetland Islands. Something that is close to my heart and I love that the craft is still continuing today.

I like to give names to my patterns that relate to the pattern in some way. For me this simple slip stitch pattern remains me of brickwork. So I looked in to the history of brick making in Yorkshire and found there was a Victorian company from Wakefield that specialised in manufacturing braickmaking machinery. They were called Bradley & Craven Ltd.

For this pattern I used:
Yarn & Amounts:

4(4:5:5:6:6) 25g balls of Jamieson’s Spindrift in shade A and 2(2:2:3:3:4) 25g balls each in shade B and shade C for short version (this is the black version in the photos)
OR
5(5:6:6:7:7) 25g balls of Jamieson’s Spindrift in shade A and
2(2:3:3:4:4) 25g balls each in shade B and shade C for longer version (this is the teal version in the photos)

Measurements:
To Fit Chest (suggested)

81.5-86.5, (86.5-91.5, 96.5-101.5, 106.5-112, 112-117, 122-127cms/
32-34, (34-36, 38-40, 42-44, 44-46, 48-50)ins

Actual Chest Size
88, (96.5, 105, 114, 123.5, 131.5)cms/
34½, (38, 41¼, 45, 48½, 51½)ins

Length crop (from shoulder)
46, (46, 49, 52, 55, 58)cm/
18, (18, 19¼, 20½, 21½, 22½)ins

Length longer (from shoulder)
55, (57, 60, 63, 66, 69)cms/
21½, (22½, 23½, 24½, 26, 27¼)ins