Brioche Chic: 22 Fresh Knits for Women & Men

Great information, designs and patterns. Just what I was looking for to expand my brioche repertoire.

BRIOCHE CHIC is an excellent reference book on brioche knitting that includes an uneven collection of 22 garment designs. There are two methods of brioche knitting: (1) the simple alternating "knit one in the row below" method that produces the well-known, stretchy "fisherman's rib"; and (2) the more complicated alternating "slipped stitch with yarnover" method that the book relies on.I very much like the designer's explanation of why a knitter might want to use brioche knitting: "The depth of texture and stunning color effects made possible through brioche's stitch manipulation make these pieces worth the time. In colorwork, handling two colors of yarn per row can be easier, since you are working each color one at a time before returning to the beginning to work the second color, much like mosaic knitting. With cables, colorwork, and other texture patterns, the work is often reversible . . . ."Most of the garment designs are rather plain, but allow knitters to practice the brioche knitting techniques. Most patterns are written for multiple sizes, and call for worsted, DK, or sportweight yarn (and medium-size needles appropriate to the yarns and brioche knitting structure). There are patterns for brioche-knit shawls, hats, mittens, scarves, and sweaters.A few designs really stand out for me, as garments that I like a lot, and would enjoy knitting. These are the Lattice-Edged Cardigan (an open-front dolman cardigan with directionally knit garter stitch body and wavy brioche stitch cables at the cuffs and fronts that also form a shawl collar); the Cowl-Neck Pullover (the dolman pullover with flat-shaped brioche cables shown in the book cover photo); and the Smocked Blouse (a cap-sleeve stockinette tee with brioche cables along the scoop neckline which ultimately join up with a simple smocking stitch across the front to make a textural bib).The greatest weakness of this book is the one page that explains how to knit the three basic brioche stitches (slip one, yarnover; brioche knit; brioche purl) that are used in the brioche knitting method used in the book (see the page titled "The Structure of Brioche"). A knitter must read the written explanations carefully, and also study the accompanying line drawings closely, in order to fully understand this brioche method. But as long as a knitter has the skills to reproduce the drawings on her/his own needles, then she/he should be able to knit everything in the book. Brioche knitting isn't particularly difficult, but it's probably best attempted by those with at least intermediate knitting skills.As a knitter's bookshelf reference, there are step-by-step instructions, with accompanying line drawings and blown-up photos of finished swatches, for each of the following:---Basic brioche cast-ons and bind-offs (long-tail; Italian tubular; alternate cable; two standard bind-offs; tubular; k2tog bind-off)---Brioche increases and decreases for shaping (two basic increases; five basic decreases; two advanced decreases)---Brioche charting for one-color and two-color brioche, in rounds and in rows---Brioche cables (traditional twisted cables; flat-shaped cables)---Two-color brioche cast-ons and bind-offs---Two-color brioche stitch patterns (brioche rib, brioche stockinette)---Other brioche methods (fisherman's rib; half fisherman's rib; garter brioche stitch; knit-one-below method for two-color brioche stripe)

If you had asked me before I had seen this book whether it was possible that this book might have a place next to Marchant's two books, I would have said: impossible. But not only is it not impossible but in some ways this is a welcome complement to Marchant's work.First off, this book has a definite focus on the practical. The designs are not incredibly sophisticated, although the sweater design is pretty clever, but they go further in terms of shaping than has seen before. Some of the technical discussion is maybe less detailed but also gives more of a perspective into the process. Clark gives more advice, making this book maybe a bit more beginner friendly. Also, it has drawings instead of colour pictures for some of the techniques. I like those better, and they are really clear.The main attraction of this book is the pattern section. I have to say that I did not enjoy them all that much on an esthetics level, unfortunately none of them looks gorgeous to me, the only reason I'm not rating this book a bit higher. But on the other hand, they're all interesting on a technical level. (except maybe the scarf which is a tiny bit trivial, but might serve as a try-out project for those who just want to try on a small project). Most of the brioche is used in a rather inventive way, combined with regular techniques, some on pieces that require some shaping like sweaters. Clark, shows a mittens and hat ensemble that took at least a bit of figuring out (and they're also my favorite projects because these are the ones I thought looked really nice)The patterns in the book are these ones: Basic Brioche Scarf, Basic Brioche Cowl, Openwork Triangle Shawl, Chevron Deep-V Pullover, Men's Shawl-Collar Pullover, Smocked Blouse, (these are deemed Brioche Basic Patterns); Cabled Funnelneck, Men's Cabled Crewneck, Lattice-Edged Cardigan, Leaf-Motif Raglan, Cowl-Neck Pullover (cover design), Flame Cable Scarf and Hat, Diamond Pane Camisole (these are deemed Brioche with a Twist, mostly with stitch patterns involving mock cables or cables); Braided-Cable Toque, Star Crowned Beret, Colorblock Pullover, Men's Textured Vest, Norvegian Style Mitts and Hat, Reversible Infinity Scarf, Arrow-Yoke Cardigan (these are called colorful brioche because they're two colour brioche variations, some cables, some texture work).Mostly, I am impressed by the versatility of the stitch in the hands of the author. There's a lot of exploration that was done to write the patterns for this book. There are discussions and patterns for on brioche cables, two-colour brioche, reversible cables, and shadow work brioche. The author was inventive, and because of this, this is a great book, full of inspiration.

Although not as comprehensive as Nancy Marchant's books (which I highly recommend), this is still an excellent introduction to brioche knitting. The first chapter gives all the basics of the brioche stitches illustrated both with clear pictures and drawings. She discusses gauge, yarn choices (here I disagree with her--brioche knitting works just fine with non-wooly yarn as long as it isn't slick yarn), cast-ons and bind-offs, shaping, cables, and two-colour stitches (although there is very little on these last two topics).The patterns range from a very simple brioche stitch scarf (no shaping at all), to a pretty triangle shawl that looks lacy thanks to the rather large needles used to knit it, to a pretty but simple pullover. Later, more advanced chapters have cable/brioche stitch hats, two-colour mittens, and a beautifully textured vest. There is no real standout pattern that is drop dead gorgeous (although the cover project, Cowl-Neck Pullover is very pretty), but almost every pattern is very wearable.I feel that this is a great addition to my knitting library and nicely complements my other brioche books from Nancy Marchant.

I just got this book after waiting over a month for it to be available. The sweater on the front attracted me and some of the items inside excited me but once I got the actual book I had a lukewarm response to almost everything in it. A lot of these sweaters are dolman sleeved, not my most favorite style and many of the patterns are beautiful on the front, for instance the cover sweater, but have a back that is lack luster and plain, as if working the front was so exhausting that we had to make the back plain, which frankly just looks strange on a dolman sleeved sweater in my opinion. I would have preferred the design to look as great on the back as the front and not stop at the sleeve seams.. There will be others who love it and for how the book is put together and the photos, it got stars. For inspiring me to break out needles and yarn, I'm disappointed. I did like the Norwegian style hat and mittens but don't wear hats nor mittens in the south, the Beret was pretty, but again I don't wear hats, the Men's Cabled Crewneck was beautiful and the Cabled Funnelneck sweater was a nice version of it for women but these 2 sweaters are not enough for me to keep the book and justify the cost. It would end up just gathering dust on the book shelf. No book deserves to just sit on a shelf and not be used. Got it yesterday and returning it today.