"Scuba" knit

[kaitlinnegan]

I just rediscovered a jacket in my closet that I love. In fact, I would like a few more of them. It would be very easy to make -- it's a very simple zip jacket with a collar, but I have no idea what the fabric is. The label says 92% nylon 8% spandex, and it is a very stretchy and fairly thick knit. The surface texture is a fine rib like slinky knit, but it's not shiny. The wrong side looks like it has very small loops (kind of like terry cloth) and is kind of shiny. Have any of you seen anything like this? I vaguely remember the jacket being advertised as "scuba" knit -- I don't know if it actually has anything to do with scuba diving. Well, any ideas would be much appreciated! I suppose slinky or swimwear knit would be a reasonable substitute, but if this kind of fabric can actually be found somewhere I would be very interested!