Combo mambo...

Inspired by Annette Petavy's knit/crochet pattern Josephine, I've created a sleeveless tank combining a knitted upper portion, and an airy, open crocheted border. Continuing the knit/crochet theme, the neckline is edged with single crochet and picots, and the armholes feature a purled edging (pick up stitches around opening, purl one row, bind off in purl).

The pattern for the knit portion was generated by Sweater Wizard. The crocheted border is a favorite stitch pattern from a Japanese crochet stitch dictionary. I changed the knit/crochet ratio of the inspiration design as I didn't want as much skin on view. Using the Golden Ratio gave me a border that provides more coverage, but is still pleasingly deep.

Yarn used is Knit Pick's Shine Sport in color Cloud. I used 7 skeins for a size medium. Shine Sport is a pima cotton/modal blend available in 20 colors for $2.49 (US) for a 110 yard, 50 g. skein. It's machine washable/dry able. I noticed a slight amount of fuzzing on two small areas (stitches, really) after machine washing the top. There is some shrinkage, so a washed/dried swatch of large size is a necessity. True to its name, the yarn has a slight gleam (at least in this silvery gray color) and is quite soft. I'll definitely use it again, but will be keeping an eye on how it holds up to repeated laundering.

I was pleased with my effort, but would recommend you take a look at the original I drew inspiration from. Annette is a very talented designer who is starting to receive much-deserved notice, especially in crochet circles. Her zippered cardigan design "Weekend Jacket" in Interweave Crochet Spring 2007 is one that I'll be trying later. She has a blog -- Mots et Mailles -- for those who can read French (which I do rather poorly), but even if I'm not getting every word, I enjoy seeing what she's up to.