The cable/lace panels that accent the Haddonfield Tank from Knitted Tanks and Tunics have to be among my favorite stitch patterns ever. I found one of them in a Japanese stitch dictionary, and fell in love with its movement and texture. They are also fun and interesting to work, although definitely not for beginners, especially if worked flat, since there are lace stitches on every row.
Before Haddonfield, I used it in my Motif Mittens, designed for Tanis Gray's book Wanderlust: 46 Modern Knits for Bohemian Style (another one of my designs, the Cabled Capelet, is on the cover!). For these mittens, I created the mirror image version of the panel, so the mittens would mirror each other.
Well, the Motif Mittens only left me wanting to use that lovely cabled lace in another design! For Haddonfield, I decide to use decreases and increases to curve the panels, accentuating body curves as well as the curving flow of the stitch pattern. This tank also has waist shaping, which combined with the decreases and increases that move the panels, makes it a solid intermediate in difficulty. Since Haddonfield is worked in the round to the armholes, at least the cables are worked for the most part from the right side! (From the armholes to the neck, they are worked flat.) Since the fit and length are pretty classic, I decided to go with traditional ribbed edgings; the hem edging is worked continuously with the body, while the neck and armhole edgings are added during finishing.
The yarn I chose for this tank, Berroco Modern Cotton, is a blend of pima cotton and modal rayon, and for a cotton blend yarn, it is quite soft and pleasant to work with. It has a nice sheen, moderate drape, great stitch definition, and wears well-- and comes in lots of colors, from neutral to bright to saturated! I would happily use it again.
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