Brioche

We know we present brioche differently than others - we've spent a lot of time researching, exploring, and testing with knitters. We didn't change things just to do them differently - we want to present brioche in a way that lowers the barriers to learning, and based on our extensive tests, we're thrilled with the results! Many of those new to brioche prefer its presentation in Knitrino, saying things like "I've tried brioche knitting a few times before and never been able to get the hang of it, but with Knitrino I had the hang of it after a few rows!" Questions? Get in touch at support@knitrino.com. 

Wrapping your brain around brioche

We think the hardest part of brioche is really just the language used. When designing for print, abbreviations are important because you need to conserve space. But we find "plain" language far easier to understand, and look to Elizabeth Zimmerman when considering good ways to make knitting more accessible. Elizabeth Zimmerman describes brioche as "Prime Rib" - it's like ribbing, but even better. Perhaps the best part of her brioche description is the "sloppy yarn over." It is so sloppy! One of our test knitters described her brioche as "mush"! Hang in there and don't frog it - it may be correct. :) 

What is it?

One of the only ways brioche is different than other knitting is that it's a form of double knitting. You're technically working each round or row 2 times. When you slip a stitch, you're setting aside that stitch to be worked on the next round. We especially like 2-color brioche because it makes it easier to see which round you're on.

In the next round, when you come to a slipped stitch and its yarnover (slip 1 yo), you're going to work them together as if one stitch. This means that in some respects, a brioche k1 is incredibly similar to a traditional k2tog. You might notice that we show a tiny symbol for a k2tog in every brioche stitch, as an indicator that there are two loops involved. 

The Stitches

There are 3 (or 4 depending on your philoshophy) stitches that are fundamental to brioche. They are:

	Slip 1 yarnover ( slip 1 yo in Knitrino or sl1yo, yfsl1yo, sl1yoyb, and all kinds of other abbreviations in other patterns): Bring the yarn to front if not already there, slip the next stitch purlwise, then move the yarn to the correct location for the next stitch.
	Brioche knit ( brioche k1 in Knitrino or brk in traditional patterns): Knit the next stitch and its yarnover together as if one stitch.
	Brioche purl (  brioche p1 in Knitrino or brp in traditional patterns): Purl the next stitch and its yarnover together as if one stitch.

Now, you'll notice that we use 2 different symbols for the slip 1 yo. We know the philosophical argument that the slip 1 yarnovers are identical, and that the only difference is where you position the yarn for the next stitch. We know that. But the fact is, new knitters are incredibly confused when they watch a video for a yarnover and it doesn't look like what they're doing. So to keep things as straightforward as possible, and to align with our philopsophy of always showing you a video relevant to What You're Doing Right Now, we're showing them separately. It's ok if you think of them the same! The important thing to remember is that your yarn always comes to the front before any slip 1 yo. Where it ends up depends on whether the next stitch is a brioche purl (yarn all the way around to the front) or a brioche knit (yarn to back).**

 **We also know the argument from Continental knitters (or "pickers") that they don't actually bring their yarn to the front. This is because pickers have a tendency to move their needles more than their yarn - when you put your needle behind the yarn for a yarnover, the effect is the same as bringing your yarn to front.

Oh, the controversy!

Counting

Because we're setting aside stitches to be worked on the next round, we don't count them separately. Alison finds this to be one of the most confusing parts of brioche! Different people think about this in different ways, but we consider the slip 1 yarnover (slip 1 yo) to be a "compound" stitch. You'll notice on the chart, it shows up as one stitch, because it only counts as one stitch. If working in two colors, just remember that you're only counting the loops that are the same color as the yarn you're working with. Here, we count the green loops:

Reversibility

Since brioche is a form of double kitting, it's also reversible! But it's not always identical on both sides. The brioche purl stitches on the front of your work will show as brioche knit stitches on the back - so the design on the back will be the "negative space" of the design on the front. For brioche rib, they'll look the same. For a design with increases and decreases, they'll look opposite. Here, we show the outside of a cowl, and you can see it looks quite different on the inside. 

If we overlay them, we can see that indeed, the inside is the "negative" of the outside. 

Getting Started

Joining in the round

There are different ways to join a second color in the round. Some people like to slip knot the ends together, some people like to just pick up the second color and start working with it! Use the method that makes the most sense to you. We usually suggest a method within the pattern, but if you like another method, that's ok. 

The important thing to know is that because you need to work each round twice, you usually will work the cast on row, then work the second row (adding the second color if using two colors), and THEN join in the round. This means that usually you'll cast on and let go of Color A, then slide your work to the other end of the needle, and work another row flat with color B, then join in the round on the third round with Color A. 

Because you're working in the round, you'll be less likely to notice that you're working each round twice. Another way of saying this is that you'll work 48 rounds to create 24 "visible rounds."

Working flat

The same principle applies when working flat. You'll work your two front side (or right side) rows: first row in Color A, slide the stitches to the other end of the needle, work the second row in Color B. Then you'll turn your work and work your two back side (or wrong side rows) which are shown hashed: third row in Color A, slide your stitches to the other end of the needle, fourth row in Color B, turn your work to the front again. In Knitrino, we always show back side rows with hash marks, so Brioche worked flat looks like two front side rows, followed by two hashed back side rows. 

Increases

As we've said, brioche is a form of double knitting, which means we almost always increase in multiples of two, so that we're making both "knit" increases and a "purl" increases. These increases are usually done on the brioche knit rows. First, you'll brioche knit into a stitch and its yarnover, then yarn over and knit into the same stitch (and its yarn over) again without dropping the stitch off the needle. We currently refer to this as a brioche m3-from-1, but it's often referred to as brioche k1-yo-brioche k1, or brkyobrk. A brioche m5-from-1 is the same idea, but you simple do the yarnover and brioche k1 again. (We think brioche k1-yo-brioche k1-yo-brioche k1 is a little unwieldy, which is why we currently use the "m5-from-1" nomenclature. But we're always open to ideas and feedback.) Note that these brioche increases are symmetric, or centered, increases, though they may appear to lean when paired with decreases. 

Decreases

Just like we increase in multiples of 2, we also decrease in multiples of 2.  Much like the knit 3 together (k3tog) and the slip 2, knit 1, passover (s2kp), the brioche decreases will lean right (brioche k3tog) or left (brioche s2kp). 

Brioche s2kp: Slip 1 (and its yarnover) as if to knit, slip 1 as if to knit, brioche k1, pass the 2 slipped stitches (and the yarnover) over the brioche knit and off the needle. [2 stitches decreased.]

Brioche k3tog: Knit 2 stitches (and the yarnover) together, and transfer back to the holding needle. Pass the next stitch (and its yarnover) over the worked stitch, and off the needle. Return resulting stitch to the working needle. [2 stitches decreased.] 

Troubleshooting

It's only natural to feel a little timid about frogging your brioche. There's a lot going on there! Some people like to use lifelines to make frogging easier, but we don't think it's necessary. These un-narrated videos will show you how to confidently frog your work and put it back on the needles, as well as how to pick up a dropped stitch.  

Frogging and putting your work back on the needles: remember that you work each round twice, once with one color, then with the other. So when you frog, we recommend frogging one round a time. When you get back to where you'd like to pick back up, just remember that each "knit" stitch has a "collar" of the other color!

Picking up a dropped stitch: it's just a teensy bit trickier than picking up a dropped stitch with normal ribbing. You just have to remember to bring the other color in between the "ladder rungs" of the color you're fixing. 

For existing brioche knitters

We listen to lots of feedback from knitters when developing anything new to us. By far, the biggest request from Knitrino knitters is that they want to learn brioche, and that the barriers with traditional patterns are just too high. On top of this, brioche charts rarely look like what you're working on. (There's a philosophical question here about whether your charts should show the outcome or the process - we believe "both" and are working on amazing new tools. But until we get those built, we use the current standard in the knitting world that charts should show the outcome. You'll notice that this standard does not hold in current knitting charts for Brioche, and we don't like that.) We know this creates a new learning curve for those who've already learned brioche, but in our minds, lowering the barrier is the most important thing. 

So here's how you can decode brioche in Knitrino. 

brk - brioche k1

brp - brioche p1

brkyobrk - brioche m3-from-1