Thursday, October 12, 2017

3 things: about brioche


1)  Two color brioche in the round is now my my mindless knitting. Whaaaaat?  I'm not sure when it happened-- I cast on a wide tube of a cowl in early summer. I left it next to my desk.   I began picking it up during  delays while uploading files or on hold on the phone. 
 I'll be the first to admit my relationship with brioche was fraught.  I wasn't the, um, swiftest to get it, as I explained just a few months ago. Now, it's relaxing and I am addicted. Old dog, new tricks ftw.

2) Brioche is a stitch that really lets you play with  colors, which I'm guessing accounts for the popularity-- the sides reverse, you can switch color prominence.  And, it goes fast, a nice chunky instant gratification. Also?  It eats up yarn at an alarming rate. So when I ran out of the Rose and , um lets call it Dirty Ballerina colored Windham,  leftovers from my last brioche cowl in April,  I put out the bat signal. I (hahahaha) thought I just needed a teeny bit. My dear client and friend, the  crack designer Elizabeth Elliott sent me lime green and a little dark blue left over from designing her Dionisio Cowl,  I like the acid-y lime kick, though its outside my usual palette.  When that wasn't enough,  a kind and well-stashed knitter sent me her leftovers after I sought to buy  partial skeins from a Ravelry forum. Her colors are everything you see from where the marigold starts. I'm loving all these hues together  because I'm a Jill Draper Makes Stuff* fan, and this is like a visit to her studio. Possibly,  Zoe's Rainbow Sweater has affected me on a cellular level. Zoe gives this project both thumbs up. 

3) Did you know there's an other way to knit brioche stitch, if you don't find favor with all the yarnover wrapping, BRK and BRP? It involves knitting or purling into the row below. 


What I find truly amusing about this : Five years ago, I actually designed and still sell a pattern, Decibella, in brioche stitch**, knit in that manner! WHO KNEW? Not me! At the time I thought I'd stumbled upon some sort of faux brioche/fishermans stitch. I even blabbed about it online that way.  I crack myself up!  Just recently I saw a class listing for the "Knit or purl into row under" brioche technique.
Ain't knitting grand?
 I'm going to have leftovers!

* welp, it looks like Jill has just added a whole bunch of really great Windham mini sets to her etsy site, including Dionisio Cowl sets! They weren't there just a couple of weeks ago when I was scouring the internets for just such a thing!  I encourage you to  treat yo'self.  

**I'm thinking I might revisit this pattern and come up with something less super bulky. Maybe with pompoms? Or tassels? I am feeling flamboyant this season!

12 comments:

Bridget said...

Your last thing made me laugh out loud! You're a genius and didn't even realize it.

I really want to try brioche stitch, but want to find a nice and simple pattern to start.

Nicole said...

I haven't tried brioche stitch yet. I think it's because the examples all look like they have too many colors for my usual preferences. Maybe because it looks like a warmer fabric than we typically need in California. Hmm. I should just try it and see what I think. Crazy color combinations can be fun, too!

Patty said...

Those colors are spectacular!

Vicki Knitorious said...

Yummy!! This all looks so HAPPY. I haven't knit brioche yet... but it's definitely on my radar!!

Vera said...

Brioche is also on my list of things to try. Yours is gorgeous...love ALL the colors.

Kwizgiver said...

I'm so intimidated by Brioche!

sprite said...

Your hat is so cheerful. I'm grinning just to see it! I can't imagine how happy it'll make you to wear it!

Mary Lou said...

Or bobbles! I have a knitting book translated from German that calls it shaker stitch.

AsKatKnits said...

You are a font of information, Gale! Oh man, Brioche...I have tried...but the failure was strong! However, #3 on your list is most curious! I might have to swatch this weekend and see what happens!

kathy b said...

Brioche by heart, that's no small accomplishment. Hooray!

kmkat said...

Brioche as mindless knitting -- wow! I made a small cowl after taking Mercedes Tarasovitch's class at Yarnover; it taught me that brioche is wonderfully rhythmic... and requires concentration and no distractions. Right now I have a brioche hat OTN somewhere. Whether I will ever finish it is unknown.

But your triumph gives me hope :-)

Kym said...

Okay. You may just push me over the brioche-edge here! Those colors!!!! I have never done actual brioche, but I have done a sweater in that fisherman's stitch that you knit down into the row below (whatever it's called). I could do that . . . maybe I can do brioche??? (Whenever I read the how-to-brioche materials my head explodes a bit.) Love it!