Persistent Knitter

My friend Tim, who is learning how to knit, said he didn’t feel he understood my simple pattern enough to knit it.  As a favor to him (and conveniently some great blog fodder) I told him I’d go through the pattern step by step and explain it in detail, with a beginning knitter in mind.

Here’s the original pattern:

3 balls Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran  (For a slightly shorter scarf, use only 2 balls)
5.0mm needles

Cast on 24 stitches
Prep Row: *yo, sl1, k1* Repeat across
Row 2: *yo, sl1, k2tog (slip stitch and yo of prev row)* repeat across
Repeat Row 2 until desired length
Final Row: *(p1, k2tog)* repeat across
Bind off.

The first section tells you what materials you’ll need (and better patterns would actually label this section!):
3 balls Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran  (For a slightly shorter scarf, use only 2 balls)
5.0mm needles

In this case, you’ll need 2-3 balls of Debbie Bliss yarn; and a set of needles that measure 5.0mm in size.  You can use straight needles, or a circular needle since neither is specified. The scarf is knit back and forth not in the round.  There is no gauge given, because it’s not a fitted clothing article like a sweater.  If you knit this pattern up, you’ll have to judge if you like the fabric created by that needle size or not.  For the record, when I did my first attempt at this scarf, I started with a 5.5mm needle and decided that was too loose of a fabric.  I also had cast on more stitches than the final pattern specified, but didn’t like how wide that made the scarf.

Moving on to the next line:
Cast on 24 stitches

Pretty self explanatory - cast on 24 stitches.  What isn’t specified is the cast-on method you should use.  You can pretty much use any cast on method you’d like.  I usually use the long tail cast on, because it’s fairly stretchy, but not overly so and I can do it without looking anything up.

Prep Row: *yo, sl1, k1* Repeat across

Now we start knitting.  The very first row of this pattern is different from the rest. You have to setup your knitting so the Brioche stitch will be formed correctly.  Because this is a short pattern and I’m using fairly standard terminology, I didn’t include definitions.  Written out in ‘long-hand’: Begin with a Yarn Over, Slip one stitch as if to purl, knit one stitch.  Repeat these stitches starting with the Yarn over until you reach the end of the row.   The * symbols tell you where the repeat begins and ends.

Row 2: *yo, sl1, k2tog (slip stitch and yo of prev row)* repeat across

The second row is similar to the first row. Read out: Yarn Over, Slip 1 stitch as if to purl, then knit the next two stitches together.  The parens clarify which two stitches you’ll be knitting together, it’s the slipped stitch and yarn over of the previous row.  Then you repeat those three stitches across the row.

Repeat Row 2 until desired length

You continue repeating Row 2, until your scarf is as long as you want it to be. For me, that was just after I had switched to the third ball of yarn.  This is a matter of personal preference though, you can make your scarf longer or shorter. One thing I loved about this pattern is that it was easily memorized and could be worked on anywhere.

Final Row: *(p1, k2tog)* repeat across

When you decide your scarf is long enough, you have to knit this final row to complete the Brioche stitch pattern.  Basically it puts you back to the 24 stitches you cast on with. Purl one stitch, then knit the next two stitches together, and repeat these across the row.

Bind off.

The very final step in any knitting project is to secure your stitches so it doesn’t unravel when you take the needle out. You usually do this by a standard bind off: knit one stitch, * knit one stitch, then pass the first one over the second on the Right hand needle.   Repeat from * across.  You’ll end up with one final stitch at the end, which you pull your yarn through and now your stitches are secured.   There is more than one way to bind off stitches though, and I chose to do my scarf in a slightly more decorative manner.

Here is my cast on:

And the cast off:

They look really different, and some people might mind that.  I don’t because I thought this was a great place to try out a different style of cast on. I really like how this one looks and plan on using it again in the future.

Now Tim, I fully expect to see you working on your Brioche scarf soon!