A Brioche yarn , a tale of total mystification... a wooly conundrum indeed!

The sun is shining & I'm having a good day... believe me when I say how wonderful this is, what a difference it makes to actually have my pain under control and to be awake!

So... my chores are done, my garden & plants are all watered, I've had breakfast & I'm up for a challenge... now then... m'Stevie wants a slouching beanie (he does love a good hat) ...in red & black and here's a stitch I've been wanting to try for a while...

This is Brioche knitting, a technique where each row is knitted twice, the result is a double thick piece of work that becomes completely reversible when using two colours.
...knitted twice!!! I hear you cry... how does that work then?

.

I shall try to explain the basic principle...... using one colour you knit the pattern by slipping stitches, knitting 2 together & bringing the wool over the needle, not necessarily in that order... then knit the same row again with the 2nd colour but this time you knit the stitches you've slipped & slip the other stitches. Well, that's the theory & yes it can be confusing..

I wanted the hat to really slouch so I opted for a double knit but I chose 6mm needless instead of the usual 4mm, to make the work looser & more open. Now, you have to bear in mind that this is my first attempt & I'm making the pattern up as I go along... in retrospect this may not have been my best idea LOL

This is a different piece of brioche knitting, but the contrasting colours help to see the pattern.
Actually knitting the pattern wasn't so difficult, it was the decreasing that flummoxed me. I've never unpicked so many rows in my life LOL The trouble was I couldn't find a pattern that decreased and kept the hat reversible... 

Nothing has ever brought me to such a level of frustration!

... and then all of a sudden it all clicked in my head, I'd finally understood how to decrease, while keeping both sides of the pattern correct. Yipee!

So, my first experimental brioche slouchy is finished... when I do my next brioche piece I'm thinking of experimenting a bit more with the decreasing and resulting patterning.
I'm also thinking of doing a couple of posts/tutorials covering how to knit certain stitches (definitely the brioche and the loopy stitches).
So... until the next time peeps xxx

... and breath....

...aaaah... as I lay here on the hard stones, like my mother before me, I'm transported back to my childhood.

The sound of the ebbing tide returning the shingle to the sea, the lacey wave tips decorating the water's edge before fading into the vast expanse... 

I can almost smell and taste the Solent shoreline & the Selsey shingle...

Seeing the Hythe fishermen returning and the boats pulled up on to the beach I'm reminded of more childhood memories... as a child I remember the Peterhead fishing fleet unloading their catch; we lived there in the 60's, I expect things are very different now...

As I lay on the hard pebbles, sorting out the really smooth ones, I can feel the heat of the sun fanned by the breeze warming my aching body. I pray it will work it's magic, before we have to leave and go home for tea.

Tomorrow I shall be better prepared, with beach shoes to protect against the stones and a bag for my found treasures... I'm already thinking up creative uses for my mix of finds, I can't wait!