We had a stranger this morning as our Edinburgh Council
carer. She hadn’t been briefed, and when we met at the door, she assumed I was
her charge. It was a bit disconcerting. It won’t be long.
I’m hugely enjoying my Half Brioche Experience, although I’m
not making much progress with my goal of understanding the stitch. Every text I
turn to seems to approach it differently.
My pattern is as follows. “wb” means madtosh DK “Whiskey
Barrel” and “rhc” means “Roasted Hatch Chillies”. K1b and p1b mean to knit, or
purl, into the stitch below the next stitch on the left-hand needle:
11. RS,
with wb, p1, k1b across, then p1
22. RS,
with rhc, purl
33. WS,
with wb, k1, p1b across, then k1
44. WS,
with rhc, knit
I hope that makes sense.
The k1b’s and the p1b’s are all concerned with the columns
of apparent knit stitches, as viewed from the front. Since the knitting and purling
below is entirely done with wb, it is no surprise that those stitches look
entirely wb. The rhc yarn sort of slips behind when you knit into the stitch
below it.
The purl columns puzzle me more. In fact, there is no funny
business there at all. They are purled on the right side, by both yarns, and
then knit on the wrong side, likewise. So why, on the right side, do they look
so completely rhc? The purl columns have twice as many stitches as the knit
columns, since there is no knitting below. Maybe that has something to do with
it.
“Half brioche” because half of the rows are plain knit or
purl? Or because only half of the stitches are ever knit or purled below? Or
are those two conditions interlocked?
“Look at your knitting” was one of the wisest of EZ’s wise
maxims. In this case, it isn’t doing me much good yet.
I’ve got the XRX book called “Knit One Below”, and
Tarasovich-Clark’s “Brioche Chic”, as well as Marchant, so there is much to
explore. I might even wind up tempted to swatch.
I took some pictures for you, and mailed them to myself from
the iPad. They whooshed off in appropriate fashion, but never arrived at the
other end. I have a feeling this has happened before, but if so I have
forgotten the remedy.
As for why the name is "Half Brioche," I am waiting for you, Jean, to figure it out and tell me. This is not helpful for you, of course, but definitely works for me.
ReplyDeleteNot long ago I worked the brioche stitch in Stephen West's "Exploration Station" shawl. Even so, I did not attempt to follow your discussion of the stitch! Over my head. I do remember that once I made it all the way through the first row, I had very little trouble.
I wish I'd had a book to study beforehand, it sounds so much more fun.
Nathan Taylor, Sockmatician MAY be able to answer some of your questions Jean. I don't do brioche myself, half or otherwise, but I love his Ravelry group and podcasts. Just a thought. I believe he has tutorials.
ReplyDeleteHere is a YouTube tutorial on 2 color brioche. I am tempted to follow her and see if I can do it, too.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/gShw0g2D7V0