At least I have become intimate friends with the brioche stitch. I can now say I know it pretty well.
However . . .
I dropped a stitch the other day. Forgetting this was brioche, I blithely ripped back as I usually do. Mistake number one.
One obviously doesn’t pick up brioche stitches like regular knitting. Still, after several attempts, the help of the wonderful The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt, and a few hours of muttering, I thought I had it.
Note: The process was not helped by thirteen-plus pounds of cat insisting on “helping” by sitting on my lap.
Just when I had the process figured out, I noticed a problem.
The row where I pick up the stitches and start again always shows on the dark side. I have done it several times, believe me. I have checked that I am following Hiatt’s directions and I have tried starting with both the knit row and the purl row. I am stumped.
Therefore, unless someone out there can figure out what I am doing wrong, I am left with two choices.
1. Ignore it. Hope that the 18-year-old male who receives it won’t notice or care.
2. Rip it out and start over. This would allow me to create a narrower look, which I would like better anyway. Plus, I am now a whiz at brioche stitch and could proceed more quickly to catch up.
Yes, I was raised a perfectionist. Yes, I care deeply about the look of items I gift, even to teenage males who theoretically don’t care. I think we all know the direction I am leaning.
To frog or not to frog?
I might be inclined to bind off, wash it, dry it, and see if it still shows, and then frog it if it does.