Brioche Week, Day 5: Identifying & Fixing Brioche!
Do you remember when you first learned to knit and you dropped a stitch (or three) and you didn't know how to fix them so you just ripped out the entire project and started over? Boy, I sure do! And although we're just swatching and practicing at this point, I want to make sure that you can fix your mistakes (the horror!) when they happen instead of starting from scratch.
Dropped Stitches!
They happen to all of us, whether we're noobs or knitting guru's - and I've learned to love them. I've learned a LOT about the fabric of brioche from dropping stitches and now I want to share it with you!
The good news is that you can always repair a dropped stitch in brioche on a knit column! You don't have to try to repair anything from the WS, just turn your work and always pick up the sts in a stockinette column. The best way to identify a dropped stitch is, as you're working your rhythm of "brk1, sl1yo" across a row and your rhythm stumbles - as in there's 2 wrapped stitches side by side, or two non-wrapped stitches side by side - you can guarantee you've got a dropped stitch!
If you're feeling up for it, I recommend knitting a 2-color brioche swatch, worked flat, and purposely drop a stitch to practice these skills. It'll feel a little stressful intentionally dropping a stitch but you'll be glad you have the skill later when you're working a large brioche project!
RIP IT! FIX IT!
Sometimes we make an error (or multiple errors) to the point where fixing the errors will take more time than I would to just re-knit a section. So we rip a section of work out - removing needles, the whole nine yards!
If you find yourself in this situation, needing to rip back multiple rows and getting back on track, fear not, it CAN be done! The biggest trick is making sure we maintain the wraps on the stitches that need them.
If you're going to knit along with this tutorial, I recommend having a DPN or circular needle at least 2 or 3 needle sizes smaller than that which you're using to knit your swatch. For example, my swatch was knit on a US 6 (4mm) and I used a US 3 (3.25 mm) to pick up the stitches.
Identifying Brioche Stitches
One of the biggest stumbling blocks that I've experienced when teaching new knitters how to brioche is helping to identify what stitches were JUST worked (say, for example, if you get called away and have to pick your work up) so that the next step is obvious!
In 1-color brioche, worked flat, this really isn't an issue, right? The RS and the WS are worked the same. But with 2-color brioche worked flat and in the round, or 1-color brioche worked ITR, knowing what you've just done is a huge step in moving forward when you pick your work back up.
I've created a video that highlights each of these 3 scenarios!
That's a WRAP!
Wait, is that a brioche pun? Get it? Wrap the stitch, wrap up the week? Yes, please roll your eyes. I know I am. But that brings us to the end of Brioche Week here at NobleKnits! I feel like the week has flown by and I hope you've had fun.
Feel free to ask questions here in the blog post. And if you're a social media user, we would love to see the samples of you trying out brioche. Tag @nobleknits on Twitter or Instagram and use #briocheweek on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
HAPPY BRIOCHE-ING!
