Basalt Tank Progress Report

No one left a comment on how to proceed after the Basalt Tank Derailment. So I frogged back to the second eyelet row and continued in stockinette. I had about 12" of yarn left after completing the hexagon. I plowed ahead and picked up stitches for the side hexagons. I didn't really pick up stitches so much as liberate the provisional cast on from their crochet chain.

The huge savings in yarn when I used stockinette instead of garter for the second band in the hexagon made me stop and think. Less yarn means less weight and less hot. That should be good in a summer sweater. So I made the partial hexagons with stockinette centers as pictured in the book as well. I left the first green hexagon alone as basalt columns are not identical in nature anyway.

I decreased every 4th garter row and every 2nd or 3rd stockinette row. I think the formula was decreases on the 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 10th stockinette rows. That makes for fewer decreases on the purl side. The hexagons look pretty flat.

I am making the short version with some bottom trim to lengthen it slightly. I am also adding half hexagons to the top of both sides. This should make the tank fully reversible. Here is the side view.


I pinned the 4 hexagons to a tank top that fits nicely and measured how long the straps need to be (5 inches). I think 20 stretched stitches should give me about the right length strap. Garter stitch is very stretchy.

My main worry is that the tank is looking awfully wide. Even though my swatch hexagon came out 6 1/4 inches at the top and bottom, the thing measures 13 inches across. Go figure. The tank will be 3 hexagons in circumference which makes for a 39" chest instead of the 36" chest I was aiming for. I am not sure if it is because I used a provisional cast on instead of picking up stitches the way the pattern is written. Picking up stitches creates a little ridge which takes up some of the width.

I am too lazy to frog this anymore. I will just push onward and hope that blocking makes the tank narrower and longer. I might also try using fewer stitches across the top half hexagon to pull it in around the upper chest.

Keywords: Knitting Nature, Basalt Tank, Norah Gaughan, knitting