How can an Old Goat Learn a New Trick with New Tech?

Say Brioche to most people and they imagine elegant soft textured bread. Brioche to a knitter is similarly elegant soft textured knitting. Brioche knitting is rumored to have ancient Middle Eastern roots. The etymology of the term is equally vague.

Not this kind of Brioche...

It may be a reference to the shape of a brioche roll, two pieces, one stacked on top the other, like brioche  knitting has two yarns stacked one on top of the other. How it went from the Middle East to France is unknown.

This kind of Brioche...

When I discovered the shaker knit sweaters I’ve always loved were brioche stitch I set myself to learn the technique. Never have I been so confused. Books did not have a basic description. Written instructions were unintelligible text:  brk, brp and brkyobrkypobrkyo. At my local yarn store the resident expert was equally confused by the written instructions. Further more, she had never made anything in the two-color technique I wanted to master. It was frustrating.

Frustrated but undeterred I investigated three different types of on-line tutorials:  U-tube demos; a professional training video and a professional E-book (http://knitfreedom.com/classes/brioche). There are multiple u-tube videos on brioche stitch. Some were amateurish in the worst sense, poor audio and/or video quality or simply tedious. If you make mistakes taping an instructional video, start over for pete’s sake! The one which was clearest and seemed to the point was in a language which I do not speak so I was lost, again. A commercial instructional video which I purchased and downloaded had excellent production quality but suffered in two aspects: prolonged introductions and an inflexible format.  The expert explaining the technique unfortunately looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights and her extended verbiage-only descriptions were both uncomfortable and tedious.  Being an expert does not necessarily make one a teacher. In addition, the continuous video made it difficult for me to skip the items I easily understood and repeat the items for which I needed more time.

The winning way for me to learn the technique was the e-book. The e-book features short text introductions with concise and well focused videos. Each short video clip has a descriptive voiceover while the technique is displayed. This creates an effective learning tool by providing a conceptual framework, then demonstrating the concept with detailed explanation. As each segment is a separate clip, you can concentrate on just the skill you want and repeat until you have mastered it. This particular E-book like many others in this format is available both on-line and as a downloadable document, so that you can continue practice whether on or off the internet. There is even a receive a mobile version E-Book designed to run on a  smartphone, iPad, or Kindle so the instructions can go with you anywhere. Way cool! From now on when I want to learn how to do something my search will be for an E-book on the subject.
   
The E-book format enabled me to brk and brp with the best. If you have any interest in mastering Brioche waste not your time and proceed directly to http://knitfreedom.com/  for their excellent Beginning and Intermediate Brioche Knitting  video e-book (http://knitfreedom.com/classes/brioche). I am thoroughly impressed with knitfreedom.com and have placed myself on the waiting list for their upcoming advanced brioche e-book. They have a similar tutorials on a variety of other knitting techniques as well as some free patterns.

[Note to reader:  from here on it’s all about knitting.]

 
What makes Brioche really neat is - - it is a kind of double knit with two layers of fabric interwoven in a ribbed pattern. Each row is completed in two circuits , in two-color brioche once in each color. Basic Brioche is a kind of 1 x 1  rib, working in the round, the main color would be the knit stitches while the contrast color would be the purl stitches. What makes Brioche unique is you alternate a worked stitch with a slipped stitch. When working the knits you slip the purl stitches and simultaneously wrap each purl stitch with a yarn over.  Similarly when working the purls you slip the knit stitches and simultaneously wrap each knit stitch with a yarn over. In the knit or purl process the yarn over is worked together with the stitch. This is a radical departure from usual knitting, the yarn overs in Brioche are not individual stitches but are accessories to the worked stitches.

Dear Spouse was also very taken by the appearance and texture of two color brioche and requested a neck-warmer/hood/balaclava. To this end I’ve designed a simple tube garment which can be tucked under the coat collar and adjusted for comfort. If the weather is really nasty, just pull it up over the ears or all the way over the head. The doubled rib of the brioche stitch provides enough resilience to stretch from neckline to skull and return to the original shape.

Note about casting on:  Most brioche patterns I’ve read suggest unusual cast on and bind off techniques, often involving sewing. The rationale for these techniques eludes me. If I wanted to hand sew I be making crewelwork not knitting. Use the cast on and bind off with which you are most comfortable. My personal preference is the Old Norwegian/Twisted German Caston with a Twisted Stitch Bind off, as they create a softly roped edge.


Franiclava

Materials:  16" circular needles in size 10
and another larger needle just for the cast-on
One marker
3 oz each of two contrasting worsted weight yarns
    The yarns used in the sample are Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted (85% Wool/15% Mohair) in Onyx and Paton’s Classic Wool Worsted (100% Wool) in Grey Marl

Directions:
Cast-on in Old Norwegian/Twisted German [see reference] 60 stitches loosely using a larger needle.  Transfer the stitches to the 16" size 10 circular needle. Connect the two ends of the cast-on row without twisting the row and place a marker at the beginning of the work. The marker serves as a reminder that a half-round or round has been completed and it is time to change yarns.

Round 1 - - knit plain

Round 2a - - Brioche setup, alternately knit a stitch and slip the next with a simultaneouswrap of yarnover - - in knitting shorthand this is written as:
      (k1 yf sl1yo yb) to marker sm switch yarn 
Round 2b - - Brioche setup for the second color, alternately slip a stitch  with a simultaneous wrap of yarnover and purl the next one - - in knitting shorthand this is written as:  
     (p1 sl1yo yf) to marker sm switch yarn

Round 3a - - Knit each knit  stitch together with it’s contrasting yarnover wrap and slip each purl stitch wrapping the yarn over the needle as you slip the stitch. Knitting the stitch together with it’s wrapped yarnover if called a Brioche knit - - in knitting shorthand Brk1. This row in shorthand is:   
     (Brk1 yf sl1yo yb) to marker sm switch yarn 
Round 3b - - Purl each purl  stitch together with it’s contrasting yarnover wrap and slip each knit stitch wrapping the yarn over the needle as you slip the stitch. Purling the stitch together with it’s wrapped yarnover if called a Brioche Purl - - in knitting shorthand Brp1. This row in shorthand is:  

    (Brp1 sl1yo yf) to marker sm switch yarn
 
Continue alternating Round 3a and 3b, until the tube is 16" long. Bind off using your preferred technique or the suggested Twisted Stitch bind off, [see reference].





Reference:    
Old Norwegian/Twisted German Cast on
http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/howto/archive/2008/05/15/old-norwegian-cast-on.aspx

and 

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/cast-on


Twisted Stitch Bind off  

detail of bind off showing rope effect

Can’t find this anywhere but it can’t be unique.  At the end of a round when you are ready to bind off:   knit one and place the new knitted stitch back on the left needle, knit 2 together through the back loop and place the new the knitted stitch back on the left needle while twisting the new stitch around, [the same maneuver as in a cable cast-on]. Continue in this fashion, placing each subsequent new stitch back onto the left needle in a twisted configuration and knitting the twisted stitch and the next in line together through the back loop. The double twist makes this  bind off wrap over the edge of the last row of the knitting project, similar to a i-cord bind off or crochet crab-stitch edging but stretchier.