Brioche Knitting Experiments

I've been learning a new technique - brioche knitting, it's quite exciting giving myself this challenge.  It seems that this technique is particularly suitable for warm garments as it, effectively, produces a double layered fabric, trapping an insulating layer of air between the layers.  I have bought myself a book on the subject so that I can learn even more variations: Knitting Brioche: The Essential Guide to the Brioche Stitch technique by Nancy Marchant.  The photographs in this are excellent and will be helpful to follow how the stitches are made. 
The actual stitches are straightforward and any reasonable knitter would be able to make a simple garment in a single colour; however, it is the introduction of other colours that makes this fascinating.  It seems that colours can move across the surface, change from one surface to the other, cables and interesting increases and decreases for shaping garments can also be made, there even seems to be a way of knitting brioche lace. 

So far I've only attempted the simplest of the stitches which is brioche ribbing with which I've made a neck warmer in a single colour. 

Brioche Colarette

Also, I have now finished a two colour, syncopated brioche scarf. Syncopation entails changing the colour that appears on one side to the other. Different patterns can be achieved by this means and is explained very clearly in Nancy Marchant's book. Having said that it is clear, the notation is slightly different from a normal knitting pattern but relatively easily understandable.

 


Two Colour, Syncopated Brioche Scarf




Syncopation




My Model Husband!


There are quite good websites to go to learn how to do brioche knitting or a site where you can see brioche being knitted, Verdigris knits.

I've enjoyed this excersize and will try to knit some swatches of other stitches to see how they work out.  Watch this space!