eddy and brioche

Elizabeth Doherty (author of the wonderful and informative book, Top Down) serves up an irresistible pair of cowls for our newest accessory! Presenting Eddy, a swirl of cabled brioche stitches worked in Piper on larger needles, which creates a fluid and open, yet cozy and warm fabric.

Eddy is given in two proportions: A single loop in neckwarmer length with a 29" circumference and a depth of 10½" (shown below left, in pretty blue Sweetwater), or a longer infinity scarf version that can be wrapped twice around the neck, at 54" around and 8½" deep (pictured below right, in eye-catching Caracara). Either option takes a mere 2 skeins of Piper. The cowl is worked flat, beginning with a provisional cast on that is joined to the live stitches of the final row with a three-needle bind off.

We see this as a great project for both those new to brioche knitting as well as knitters already well versed in the ways of "sl1yo" and "brk"—with rows that are short enough to get into the rhythm of creating the brioche stitches, and a cable twist to keep things interesting, Eddy is quick to work on the needles and have draped around your neck in no time.

Elizabeth describes an initial reluctance to try out brioche; eventually, she discovered that she had, in fact, already been working it up in a misnamed “shaker rib” pattern. In knitting there can often be some confusion in the nomenclature—something we touch upon briefly in an earlier blog post for Bristol Ivy’s Dar (a cardigan in fisherman's rib, which looks like brioche but takes a different route to get there).  

One of the best brioche knitting resources out there, and one we can’t recommend highly enough, is Nancy Marchant's The Brioche Stitch. Nancy's website is a veritable brioche bouncy castle of information that covers a multitude of stitch variations and possibilities. It also provides a very clear and helpful description of how to work the most basic, single-color brioche stitch, complete with video in case it helps to see it worked in action.