Brioche Knitting Part 2: One-colour Rib Wrap Recipe

Part one of the 'Brioche Knitting' series included detailed instructions on how to work the 'brk' and 'sl1yo' stitches which are the foundation of brioche. I also showed you the wrap I made as my first brioche project. Today I'll tell you how to make it. 

The one-colour rib wrap is essentially an up-scaled swatch - it is made in exactly the same way, just with more stitches and rows. As it's knit with big yarn and needles, it can be finished in a weekend or a few evenings, giving you a sense of accomplishment as well as a warm snuggly accessory! By the time you've made the wrap you should be ready to move onto the next stage which is two-colour brioche rib. Are you ready? Let's go! 

Materials: 

• 300g / 225m Scheepjes Peru ❣  in shade '70' - it looks different in every light! 
• 12mm circular needle, at least 60 cms long (for the cast on and bind off)
• 10 mm circular needle,  at least 60 cms long  
• Needle suitable for sewing in the yarn ends (large eye) 

Stitches & Additional Notes:

The stitches and cast-on/bind-off are all detailed in the first post in this series. If you haven't read it, please go back and do so before continuing, or this post probably won't make sense.

- Long tail cast on (or other stretchy cast on method of your choice) 
- Slip stitch: slip one stitch to the right needle as if to purl
- K1: knit 1 stitch
- Sl1yo: put the yarn to the front, slip a stitch, put the yarn over the top of the needle/slipped stitch
- K1tbl: knit one stitch through the back loop
- Brk (brioche knit):  knit the slipped stitch and it's paired yarn over (from the previous row) together
- Standard bind off using bigger needles (or other stretchy bind off method of your choice)

- When changing to a new ball of yarn, be sure to do so at the beginning of a row, leaving a tail of at least 15cm for sewing in (attempting to sew the ends in mid-row is very tricky with this reversible fabric).
- The first stitch of each row is slipped, and the last stitch of each row is knit through the back loop. When you have bound off, the yarn tails should be threaded into these stitches (not too tight!) to finish off, as indicated by the arrows in the image below. They become invisible!

L: Invisible!, R:The red arrows show the direction of sewing

Instructions:

1. Using 12mm needles and the long tail cast on, cast on 69 stitches
2. Continue using 10mm needles
3. Set up: Slip 1 stitch, *sl1yo, k1; repeat from * to last 2 sts, sl1yo, k1tbl
4. Row A: Slip 1, *brk, sl1yo; rep from * to last 2 sts, brk, k1tbl
5. Row B: Slip 1, *sl1yo, brk; rep from * to last 2 sts, sl1yo, k1tbl
6. Repeat Rows A and B until the wrap is to the desired size or you are almost out of yarn
7. Change back to 12mm needles and bind off loosely 
8. Sew in ends as pictured above 
9. Wrap around yourself in all sorts of ways and secure with a shawl pin, or one or more button 'cufflinks', as pictured below

I sewed two buttons together to make a 'cuff-link' which can be threaded through the stitches to replace a shawl-pin

I've been wearing this all week - I love that it can be worn as an extra over-shoulder layer indoors and adjusted to wear beneath a coat too. Simple versatile knits are always a winner with me. I hope you enjoy yours too.

COMING SOON: How to knit a two-colour brioche rib swatch! 

❣ Many thanks to Scheepjes for supporting this series. In the UK, Scheepjes yarns are stocked at Deramores and Wool Warehouse.  Find a full list of international stockists here.