30 October 2009

Brioche Beret

No, I haven't been baking (well, I have, but not brioche ;)

I've been learning how to do brioche stitch, also known as fisherman's rib, using this web site.

This is a seriously cool stitch pattern - each row is knit twice, with first the odd stitches being knit / even stitches slipped, and then the even stitches being knit / odd stitches being slipped. It's a bit more tricky than that, but that's the basic idea.

And the reason for this, apart from always liking to learn new things? I simply had to make a Windmill Beret (Rav link) by Nancy Marchant (or pretty much any of her beret patterns, really - all free, on the same web site above). Isn't it stunning?!

I'm using 1 skein of Noro Silk Garden, and 1 skein of Naturally Loyal (leaf green). It's knit from the top down, and the first few rows are very fiddly - i think I had to restart about four times. In the end, I found using a long circular needle (magic loop) much easier than DPNs.

This is what it looks like on the 'wrong' side ...

It takes a fair bit of concentration initially, but once the technique 'clicks' - which it did for me around Row 10 - the whole process is much faster. I've got to this point in three days ... hope to finish it this weekend! And I think I'll be making more of these!

8 comments:

  1. It's beautiful. I love the way the colours wind around the green and vice versa!! I understand the principle, but not the practice!!!

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  2. It looks great - love all those colours together.

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  3. ooooh. i think I might have to try that. Neat.

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  4. Oh, I love brioche! And Nancy's website is such a great reference. She has a Rav. brioche group, but it's pretty quiet right now.

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  5. haven't ever had reason to try Brioche but that is the prettiest WIndmill I've seen so far, and probably enough to entice me to put it into my Rav queue [ but then my queue is 20 pages long AFTER CULLING so who am I fooling ?? ]

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  6. it's fantastic! I must learn!

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