I am having an passionate affair with the Brioche Stitch. The piece shown was supposed to be a 4" swatch/practice run, but I couldn't stop once I figured out the mechanics and got going. Now it's a really messy scarf. I'm on the sleeves of The Mushroom Sweater and the double pointed needles are kind of a pain. So I needed the diversion of a new project. And I fell in love! The Brioche makes all other stitches seem so flat! It's super puffy, like knitted bubble wrap. It's reversible! It's easy to do; way more fluid than real ribbing. I read the directions for the stitch in this old bed jacket booklet: make a foundation row, with the yarn always forward, of slip stitch purlwise, k1. Next and all following rows: with yarn forward, slip one purlwise, knit the yarnover and next stitch together, bring the yarn forward under the needle, repeat. (End with a ktog.) Voilà! Harder to write than to do! The biggest problem I've encountered with it is: sometimes I purl the slip stitch instead of just slipping it purlwise. But that's just a dead brain cell taking over my fingers. This was done in Paton's Natural Pink SWS (Soy Wool Stripes), which is silky, soft, and lofty — perfect for the planned bedjacket, which will also feature three rows of elongated drop stitch (k 00), one of which I'll thread a ribbon through.
4 comments:
That looks scrumptious!
the increases and decreases on the brioche can be a booger to figure out without someone actually showing you. I just made rectangles until the genius at my LYS showed me what for!
Beware the Brioche! I once got so engrossed in brioche that I tore my rotator cuff. Also, it's really hard to rip or recover dropped stitches. Other than that, I love the sponginess of the finished product. Great jacket!
Deborah, that sounds scary. I try not to knit the brioche while I'm driving a car, but it's hard! I can see how it could cause an accident. My swatch turned scarf is pockmarked with mistakes, especially where I try to increase and decrease. The only directions I could find for such are "in the round," which doesn't work for flat. I'll probably do the shoulder increases in a stockinette band, then resume the puff.
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