Introduction to Brioche Knitting

Week 21 = In-depth Class Reviews
Day 3 = May 23, 2014

     To continue the in-depth view of both Mom's and my classes and what we learned, here is what I have for you today.

Mom's Class

Lily Chin – Tips, Tricks and Hints

 

Lily Chin’s class is one of the classes I was most eager to take.  This past year my daughter has been teaching me different ‘secrets’ of the knitting world.  I finally realized there is so much I don’t know about knitting and was ready to learn.  Enter a class with Lily Chin, who introduced herself by saying something like (I paraphrase), “I’m a New Yorker, born and bred.  I talk fast and I move [teach] fast.” Her brain is filled with so many USEFUL and HELPFUL tips, tricks and hints that it would take a month of classes to even begin to learn them all.  Thank you, Lily, for showing me invaluable shortcuts and easy fixes that will save me a lot of stress and streamline all my future knitting projects – and for introducing me to my newest and super helpful knitting tool, the crochet hook!

Victoria's Class

     The Class: Introduction to Brioche Knitting
     The Instructor: Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark
     Class Size: 27
     Rating (1 Unhappy - 10 Ecstatic): 4
     Best thing about the class: The number of swatches and samples that Mercedes had to show included all different types of Brioche work: flat, round, single color, multicolor, increases, decreases and much more.
     Needs improvement: The class size was WAY, WAY, WAY too large for the material being taught. It ruined the technique that I was so excited to learn, as well as ruined the experience with an instructor that I greatly wanted to learn from.
     The Review: This class was more problematic than I expected. I did not expect to have so many problems understanding the material. The first swatch that I knit in class is pictured below. It is a small square that was easily knit going back and forth.

 

      For those of us that were excited to add color into our Brioche work, we were told to finish our flat swatch and start a piece in the round. Now to make things tougher, I only had DPN's with me which are not a good option when you are going to have lots of YO's in your pattern. When I tried to do the pattern in the round, I had big difficulties. I would come across an incorrect stitch which was set-up from the previous row. Because of the odd configuration of the stitches, I would undoubtedly get confused and then frustrated because it would take Mercedes 15-20 minutes to help me due to the extra large class size. So not getting the flow of the pattern equals no colorwork. I was sad beyond belief.

     I sat down a second time with the directions and a pair of brand new Carbonz circular knitting needles a few days after class. I again attempted Brioche Knitting in round and again faltered and was stumped as to WHY I couldn't get this seemingly simple 2-row technique.

     A few more days later, I vowed that I would spend every second of my 2 flights and layover home on Tuesday morning mastering the Brioche technique. As you can see below, it finally sunk in. The first picture with hints of green is the outside that I see as I am knitting.

 

      The second picture is the inside, it is the reverse of the outside. This large sample will end with solid green. So the pattern allows for a nice color change. There was also the potential to learn increases and decreases in the class, but that was put to the wayside because of the slow moving class.  

 

     I am disappointed with the small amount of material that I learned. Plus, I am uncertain about completing one of these on my own. The extra large class size of 27 made for a very impersonal experience. Many times I had to wait for Mercedes to either explain the next step or answer a question that I had. The class would have greatly benefited from a projector type of set up similar to some of the other teachers, where the knitting that the teacher is doing shows up on a big projector screen. Then Mercedes would not have had to spend all her time going around to every student. The handout was clear and precise and the materials required for the class were all there. Mercedes teaching style was more hands on than is doable for a class of 27. I would of suggested a limit of 15 students for this class.

     Let me be clear...I loved learning Brioche, I loved Mercedes as a teacher, I was unhappy with the excessively large class size. After the conference I received an email from Mercedes with a link to a discount for her Craftsy class, 2 Ravelry patterns and a link to pre-order her book, Brioche Chic which is coming out later this year. I will definitely be taking her up on most of these items, especially the Craftsy class.

Knitting question of the day

Does the look of Brioche make you more or
less interested in learning the technique? 

Brioche Knitting in the Round FINALLY,

Victoria