Letters
Come Zoom With Us: We’re Honeycombing!
Dear everyone,
Here we go again!
You’re cordially invited to join us next Monday, July 18, at 4 p.m. Central time, for another Brioche Encouragement ZoomTM. This star-studded event will feature the world premiere of our latest little how-to video: How to Make the Honeycomb Scarf.
Our brioche-knitting film franchise is shaping up to be another Fast and Furious. Or maybe it’s Slow and Sumptuous, but you get the idea. Fans can’t get enough of those tight shots on the lovely hands of Allison Volek Shelton, who will demonstrate the four sublimely simple rows that make up broken rib brioche stitch, just the way we learned it from Nancy Marchant, the world’s foremost brioche teacher and designer. The voice—or should I say, The Voice—will once again be the plummy, slightly school-marmy stylings of Miss Kay Gardiner. I hear she’s trying real hard, bless.
Seriously though, if you’ve been waiting to jump in to Nancy Marchant’s glorious Honeycomb Scarf, this video could change your life. It’s a quick, helpful demonstration of the delightfully flat, reversible fabric that appears in Field Guide No. 21: Brioche. After the Zoom, the video will be available to you anytime on MDK’s trusty Vimeo channel.
Get Ready
Have your Field Guide No. 21 handy during the Zoom so you can follow along with the written instructions and the pattern. Better yet: if you have two Freia Shawl Balls, or a Honeycomb Scarf Bundle, bring them with you on Monday, and you’ll be off to a roaring start, in the company of like-minded (brioche-minded) friends. And remember: two shades of cotton yarn will give you a swatch in the form of a Honeycomb dishcloth! Just add a circular needle and you’re all set. We’ve found that we learn new techniques more easily when we have needles in our hands.
Got Questions?
While the numbers we expect will not permit individual instruction, if you’ve got a Burning Brioche Question, we encourage you to type it into the Zoom chat window during the event. We’ll answer as many as we can, as well as we can. And remember that your fellow knitters in the MDK Lounge are an ever-present trove of trouble-shooting and support.
Sign up for the Zoom here, and we’ll send you an email reminder and the Zoom link on Monday. And if you can’t make it on Monday, fear not: we’ve learned how to record these Zooms, and we will be posting a link to the recording after the event.
Love,
Kay
I need a wee bit of help/advice please.
Started both the cowl and scarf. Able to do both HOWEVER, the knitting piece seems to be too open. I’m usually a semi tight knitter so this is most unusual.
I am using alpaca yarn from Blue Sky.
Is this the reason?
Warmly, Suzanne
The brioche stitch makes an open sort of fabric. Many patterns with brioche sections recommend going down a needle size for the brioche. If you want a tighter fabric try going down a needle size.
I enjoyed the brioche video and I’m happily knitting the cowl. Looking forward to this new video and expanding my stitch skills!
MDK is the best!!! Didn’t make it home in time for the cushiest brooch (drat) but did watch the video several times!!!
Is it necessary to sign up for the zoom in order to access the video? I can’t join these during working hours.
It’s not necessary to sign up, as we’ll post the Zoom recording and the video to our Vimeo channel. We’ll also post the links in the banner of our homepage (at the top) after the Zoom event.
Yay! Just got my field guide!
Yippy skippy! I’ve been waiting for this! Doing the dishcloth first to git ‘er down!
I want to follow along with the video by making a cotton dishcloth. What weight cotton yarn do I need and what size needles should I have on hand?
Our go-to dishcloth yarn is Rowan Handknit Cotton, which is a light worsted weight. I use US 5 needles, but I’m a loose knitter. Basically whatever you’ve got on hand is going to work out just fine for a dishcloth.
During the cowl kal, I started the mitts – finished one after a bunch of restarts, but finally got it. Then I began the scarf – and started 2nd mitt – both of which felt more straightforward by this time. The cowl video helped me work out the main glitch I was struggling with on the mitts: where to leave the yarn at the beginning of round, with dpns, no less. After finally getting that right, Nancy’s directions for the scarf were pretty easy to follow. Thanks for these great patterns to learn this new (for me) skill, and I look forward to the next video and can’t wait to continue on my scarf. Only hitch now – I have a broken finger and can’t knit for a while 🙁
Is it too late to get the link k for today?