Tag: brioche stitch

Posted in knitting

Finished Object: It’s been a minute

Posted on by Laura Kate

It just now occurred to me that I cast on this stash-busting brioche stitch hat more than a month ago. Time to show the final product.

In my first post about the project, I noted that working brioche stitch was quite new to me. I elected to knit this little beanie because it was advertised as an easy pattern for beginners.

Yes it was. But I still made mistakes. Notably, every time that I knit back to the beginning of a round, I became confounded when picking up the second color and starting the next round. Consequently, I have some weird-looking contrast color bars across main color stitches in some rounds.

Thankfully, they are visible only on the inside of the beanie. (not shown in the photo……..why advertise one’s mistakes?) So I don’t recommend that the hat be worn flipped to the reverse side. Trust me on this.

On the plus side…..

  • It is very soft and squishy
  • It is comfortable
  • It will probably be very warm on a cold day.

On the down side……..

  • It is pretty loose on the head.
  • It shouldn’ be worn on a windy day
  • It probably doesn’t match your school colors.

Winter is quickly drawing to a close. Despite the fact that Spring is my favorite season, I’m a little sad to see Winter go. I’ll be taking a pause on knitting warm accessories for the hot months ahead.

What’s next in store for my yarn stash? I’ll take stock of what sort of fiber is left and see what I can craft out of the much-shrunken remaining inventory.

Posted in knitting

Cast-on Monday: Brioche Beanie from stash

Posted on by Laura Kate

On the advice of Kathryn who posts as Backstage Knits, I am knitting a beanie as my first project using brioche stitch.

I’m using two orphan skeins. The red is a superwash wool by Lambs Pride. The grey is the natural alpaca and wool worsted leftover from Henry’s Biome hat.

So far, this seems to be a swift knit. I am making the odd mistake here and there, which slows me down as I re-knit part of a row. But surely and steadily I am getting the hang of brioche.

I’m hoping to take this project as a travel knit on an upcoming trip. But I may have it finished before we depart.

The pattern is Brioche Basic Beanie by Marilyn Bracketer and it is available for free as a download from Ravelry. 

Posted in knitting

Cast-on Monday: Learn a New Stitch

Posted on by Laura Kate

As I ponder my goals for 2024, I am reminded of one goal that has history. Looking back on annual goals for three years, one item seems to pop up every year: mastering the brioche stitch. I have tried and failed.

Gentle reader, if you are not a fan of knitting, you may wish to stop reading now and move on to a post more to your taste. If you are a knitter, you are probably at least a little sympathetic. Maybe you also have tried brioche. If not, here is a wonderful example illustrating why you may want to learn it.

Njord cowl by Emelie Litwin

In brioche, there are often two colors worked together. Each row has 2 passes – one for the light color and another for the dark. It is truly double knitting and as such, makes incredibly plush and warm garments. But it has its own language with unique chart symbols used only in brioche knitting. 

Emelie’s cowl is what I lust for. But, let’s be real, my first brioche garment is more likely to be one of these:

Left: VidaFetti Headband by Victoria Ida. Right: Waystone Mitts by Alicia Plummer

After three false starts while watching a Craftsy tutorial that didn’t help me at all, I turned to Utube and got some help. Andrea Mowry’s tutorial on two color brioche worked flat broke me through my learning curve.

Here is the beginning of my swatch:

There are a few mistakes, but I let them be. Unknitting brioche is almost as challenging as knitting it is. For now, I’m happy to have dipped my toe in the murky brioche waters. It is a good enough start.