Brioche knitting uses more yarn than,
say, stockinette stitch - up to twice as
much.

100% NON-superwash wool works
best when making brioche because it
wants to stick to itself and won’t allow
the fabric to stretch so much. Slippery
yarns have a tendency to ‘grow’ either
lengthwise of widthwise, as can be true
with most knitting stitches. Adding
selvedge stitches not only creates a
pretty edge but also a firm one.

When washing a brioche garment,
the stretching can become a problem
because of the weight of the absorbed
water. I squeeze out as much water as
I can, wrap it in a thick dry towel, wrap
this in several layers of newspaper and
tread on it to get out as much water
as possible without stretching out the
garment. Then I ease the garment back
into its original shape to let it dry flat.

Measuring gauge
Measuring a brioche sample for a stitch
guage is tricky. The larger the sample,
of course, the more secure your
measurements will be. Block it lightly
to relax the yarn. Lay the sample on a
flat surface and measure it with a flat
ruler. Remember that each knit loop
you count in a knit column is actually
two worked rows - in one row the
stitch is worked and in the following
row it is not worked but slipped. Note
that a normal brioche gauge will have
few stitches and lots of rows.
In my patterns, the ‘yo’ does not
count alone as a st, unless otherwise
indicated.

Counting rows
Each row is basically worked twice,
half of the stitches are worked in one
row and the other half (the stitches
that were slipped in the former row)
are worked in the following row. If you
only count the “knit column” stitches
you have to double the number for the
actual correct number of rows worked.

When I write brioche instructions I
count only the knit stitches going up a
knit column on the RS, therefore when
I say “20 rows” I am counting 20 knit
column stitches when actually 40 rows
of knitting have been worked.

Casting on and binding off
Keep in mind that, given the elasticity
of brioche, you should cast on and
bind off very loosely. For adequate
ease and looseness, when using a
long-tail cast on, cast onto two needles
held together or a needle larger than
the one with which you plan to knit
the rest of the piece. Of course, after
casting on, pull out one needle to
continue.

After casting on, it takes 8-10 worked
rows before pattern can be recognized.

Correcting mistakes
I have been ‘brioching’ for years
and still find the stitch difficult to
‘read’ especially where increases and
decreases or more than one color have
been used. If you make a mistake in
the middle of a row, don’t tear out the
entire row at once; instead, return one
stitch at a time. If the mistake lies a
few rows down, rip out all the rows
until one row above the mistake. From
there, rip out stitch by stitch. You will
be picking up normal looking stitches
as well as stitches with yarnovers.
It also helps to pick up the stitches
onto a smaller needle. This will make
the stitches easier to pick up and you
can work off of this needle, onto your
original needle, for one row.