In a classic turn for me, I’m not only learning a new knitting technique (brioche) but doing it in two colors at once. Brioche is a really cool and plush knit form that basically ends up with a double layer of fabric at the end, and a lot of designs end up fully reversible. I have heard from my pal Seth that actually, two-color can be a slightly easier way to learn brioche knitting because there’s an easier way to tell apart the two active sides of the knit… so I’m hoping that helps.
Since I’ve never done brioche before, I’m starting with a swatch to get my footing before I break into the hat pattern I’m planning to make (seriously it’s so cute, go check it out). I’m also going to swatch the repeating pattern to see what size needles I need to use to get the hat to be the right size. Because I am, as previously established, a brain genius who likes to make things hard for myself, I am going to swatch flat, even though the pattern is written in the round. This means that I’m going to have to remember which pattern rows are “wrong” sides and knit reversed stitches (purl where it says knit and vice versa) on all those rows. I’m guessing I’m going to mess up kind of a lot but what can I say? it’s an adventure.
I do flat swatches for stuff in the round all the time. Are you using the technique where you leave a big tail behind the work and start rows at the same side each time?
Good luck with brioche! I never got around to it. One day, one day…
Seth told me that brioche is so tight-yet-elastic that swatching flat knit back-and-forth yields a close enough measurement (wild!!) (then again, so is the fact that I’m knitting worsted weight on US 2.5s). So no, I’m just going to do the classic reversing directions technique and see how it goes!
wow you’re right that hat pattern is SUPER cute