Babes First Brioche

Sometimes I feel like I have so many interests and am excited about so many different crafts that I don’t ever get to the projects I want to complete. Brioche has long been one of the things I have wanted to tackle, but never really made time for. Last fall I knit the most basic two-color brioche hat in worsted weight yarn. It was a great starter project for me, but what I really wanted to learn was how to make the beautiful, squishy, fingering weight brioche with decorative increases and decreases. I decided it was time to sit down and learn a thing I have been dreaming of for a long while.

Pattern: Vintage Prim by Andrea Mowry
Materials: Knerd String Fingering- 1 skein each  Abalone and Black Celebration

Andrea Mowry’s Vintage Prim hat was the perfect pattern to expand my brioche skills. I’m not going to pretend that it was an easy knit for me or that I didn’t have to rip it out and start over, but it was a great skill builder! I am so glad that I had knit a basic brioche hat once before just to get a hang of how to work the stitches. It is a totally do-able project for a beginner briocher, just expect a few frustrations along the way.

Once I got the hang of it, it was really pretty simple. I love that the decorative brioche is just in a small section of the hat. It gives you a nice break before you really have to pay attention again. Plus the pattern is fully written out AND charted. Bless you Andrea! 

I used single skeins of Knerd String Fingering but this would be the perfect project to utilize our new Knerd String Speckle Sets! I sort of wish that they had been available when I was trying to select my colors. However, Marta (the beautiful model pictured here) helped me pick out the subtle purple tone of Abalone to pair with my bold black skein and it is completely lovely so no regrets.

Take the time to do the projects you want to do. It is so satisfying to complete something you have been thinking about for longer than you can remember! - Kaylee