Tappan Zee

When I first saw the House of Cards pattern, (Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, page 119) I was reminded of the Tappan Zee Bridge. One 28-row repeat of the pattern symbolizes the fretwork, the undulating curves suggest the movement of the water below and the eyelet band is the lights on the bridge at night. This is the bridge from my childhood, but it could easily be the Golden Gate Bridge, Sydney Harbor Bridge, Tower Bridge or Brooklyn Bridge.

Tappan Zee is worked from the top down starting with a garter stitch tab. Increasing 6 stitches on every right side row, three at each side, gives Tappan Zee its wide crescent shape. The slipped stitch pattern means you only use one color in a row making this look much more complicated than it really is.