I learned brioche knitting about five years ago when I took a wonderful class at The Black Sheep Gathering from J.C. Briar. I managed to knit one shawl and then I moved on. I was reveling in the amount of weaving time that retirement afforded me. I wasn’t knitting much at that time in my life.
Fast forward to this week when I found a shawl pattern that reached out through my iPad and grabbed my interest. I quickly purchased and downloaded the pattern. The linear designs that alternated between horizontal and vertical lines did me in. I’m not much for circles, but lines that run in various directions? Count me in.
I began reading the pattern and realized that at least part of it is knit using brioche stitches. Okay, I knew brioche, no big deal.
Until I realized I honestly didn’t. Know brioche stitches. I’d completely forgotten more than I knew.
I dug out a couple of worsted weight yarns to sample and refresh my brain about brioche knitting. Specifically two color brioche knitting. I found a couple of websites with fairly good tutorials and began swatching. And ripping. And re-swatching and re-ripping. I was attempting this in the evening, not my most productive time.
Fast forward to this morning. I picked up my swatch and observed it much closer. And then I knew, in order to be successful with brioche knitting, I’ve got to treat it like any other knitting. I have to learn how to read it. And there it was. I continued my little swatch without anymore ripping or line by line instruction.
I’m feeling a bit smug right now. I’ll let you know if this has truly sunk in once I begin to knit this new shawl pattern.
But first the dyeing and the spinning of the yarn for it!
Magpie Dye Studio 