Brioche stitches and bamboo yarn, a mutually beneficial blend!

This week, we’ve been knitting with and talking about Bamboo Pop Dots. I think it’s a great yarn to work with several variations of brioche knitting because, as we saw yesterday, the yarn gives definition to textured stitches. Since we’ve explored pattern hunting and we’ve seen the yarn in a baby blanket, let’s explore a few stitch patterns and how they can be used to make beautiful knits.

Brioche knitting creates quite a dense fabric, but with Bamboo Pop Dots, the drape and elasticity of the yarn really keep the brioche knits light and flowy. Here are some brioche variations knit with this yarn.

The gurus of Brioche knitting, Nancy Marchant being one of them, have developed a set of brioche knitting abbreviations that streamline the pattern writing and reading process. However, I find that for many knitters new to brioche, these abbreviations throw them off when they are just starting, so I’ll use the abbreviations and explanations that break down things a little to make it accessible to beginner level knitters. I’ve also included a bonus video to demonstrate.

Honeycomb brioche stitch

Cast on an even number of stitches. A stretchy cast-on like cable cast-on or the twisted Norwegian cast-on, which I demonstrated in March, 2018, is important to keep the edge from gathering in.

Set-up Row 1 (WS): With yarn in back, slip 2 purlwise, *k1, bring yarn forward (yfwd), slip 1 purlwise; rep from * across to last 2 sts, yarn over top and round needle, p2.

Set-up Row 2 (RS): With yarn in back, slip 2 purlwise, *with RH needle tip move yarn over to the left and knit the st it is covering, when slipping st off LH needle, in one movement, slip the yarn-over purlwise, k1; rep from * across to last 2 sts, p2.

Row 1: With yarn in back, slip 2 purlwise, *yfwd, slip 1 purlwise, knit next st and yarn-over together; rep from * across to last 2 sts, p2.

Row 2 (RS): With yarn in back, slip 2 purlwise, *k1, slide yarn-over to the left, knit next st and when slipping st off LH needle, in one movement slip the yarn-over purlwise; rep from * across to last 2 sts, p2.

Row 3: With yarn in back, slip 2 purlwise, *knit next st and yarn-over together, yfwd, slip 1 purlwise; rep from * across to last 2 sts, p2.

Row 4: With yarn in back, slip 2 purlwise, *with RH needle tip move yarn over to the left and knit the st it is covering, when slipping st off LH needle, in one movement, slip the yarn-over purlwise, k1; rep from * across to last 2 sts, p2.

Repeat Rows 1–4 for pattern.

Pearl Brioche Stitch

I love how the yarn-overs in this stitch pattern crisscross each other creating what looks to me like little pairs of wings.The alternating pattern creates a diagonal look to the texture which is very inviting as the eye has so many directions to move in along the lines.

Row 1 (WS): With yarn in back, slip 2 purlwise, *k1, bring yarn forward (yfwd), slip 1 purlwise; rep from * across to last 2 sts, yarn over top and round needle, p2.

Row 2: With yarn in back, slip 2 purlwise, *knit yarn-over together with next st, k1; rep from * across to last 2 sts, p2.

Row 3: With yarn in back, slip 2 purlwise, *yfwd, slip 1 purwise, k1; rep from * across to last 2 sts, p2.

Row 4: With yarn in back, slip 2 purlwise, *k1, knit yarn-over together with next st; rep from * across to last 2 sts, p2.

While some knitters swatch to get accurate tension or gauge, I also swatch to learn a new stitch, or to see how yarn interacts with a stitch pattern; hence my attempts at brioche stitch variations and Bamboo Pop Dots. But sometimes, my experimental swatches lead to something else. This month, when I saw the honeycomb brioche, I was reminded of smocking, and little dresses with smocked empire waists, and a design idea was born. So I knit this little dress.

This is just a prototype. There are several problems with this design, but sometimes when you design “on the needles” things don’t quite work out, and that’s when you work out the kinks. I thought a puffy sleeve would be cute, but if I surveyed the readers of this blog, I’m wondering just how many people would think so. The “smocking” stretched out at the bottom, so I’d need to figure out some structuring stitches there. The skirt may be a little long as well. What do you think?

So, I’d encourage you to try Bamboo Pop Dots, and swatch with brioche stitches like these, or try other textured stitches. What designs or creations come to light in your own “designer’s mind”?

I’ve truly enjoyed knitting with this yarn this month, and I’m going to keep designing with it because I like its sheen, its drape, and the colors, the solids, the multis, and the dotted versions.