Tips & Tricks to Knit Brioche Like a Boss
If brioche knitting is new to you or if you’ve been brioching like a champ for years, there’s always something new to learn. Here are a few tips that might make things a bit easier:
1.
Each row of 2-color brioche is knit in two passes. The first pass (“a”) is knit in one color and the second pass (“b”) is knit in the second color. This is considered one row of brioche.
2.
After working an “a” pass, you will not turn your work. Instead you will slide the sts across the needle to begin knitting the same row with your second color. Only turn your work after working a “b” pass and completing your row.
3.
Brioche is a study of opposites. If the next st to be worked has a yo wrapped around it, you know that you will brk or brp that st. Likewise, if your next st has no yo, you will sl1yo.
4.
Don’t know which color you’re supposed to be using? Look at the row that’s live on your needles. Whichever color the yos are, you will need to use the opposite color for your next row.
5.
If you get turned around and can’t figure out which way to go, hold your knitting out in front of you so that you can really see it. Determine which color yarn you’ll be working with next (see tip # 4) and then remember that you’ll be knitting sts off the Left Needle and onto the Right Needle.
6.
To make a nice clean selvedge edge, slip the first stich of every row (& every pass) is as if to purl. Make sure that you aren't accidentally wrapping any yarn around the side of your work when doing this.
7.
Things can get a bit tricky with brioche decreases. Think of the stitch and its corresponding yarn-over is a single stitch. You never separate them, but always knit/purl/slip them as if they were one strand of yarn unless indicated otherwise.
8.
When you’re working reversible brioche decreases, you will be treating the stitches like knitted cables. All you’re doing is rearranging the stitches on your needles so that they create the surface design that you want.