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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Rodekool

What I really wanted to call this blog is "Rodekool and my obsession with brioche stitch" but for the sake of brevity, I shortened to just Rodekool.  What is Rodekool?  Well, it is a pattern by Nancy Marchant that was featured in Knitty Fall 2010.  This pattern was brought to my attention via the President of the knitting guild that I belong to.  She showed off her Rodekool scarf during our show and tell & talked of the challenge it provided.  I knew right away that I had to knit this pattern.  I even thought to myself "I bet I could knit that and I probably won't have too many problems since I'm already familiar with brioche stitch", but boy was I wrong!
When I initially looked up the pattern I must have glossed over all the cast on information and basically the whole pattern because it turns out there was quite a bit in the pattern that I was unfamiliar with.  First off, I have done an Italian cast on once.  ONCE!  This pattern starts with an Italian cast on using two colors!  It was at this time that I noticed the pattern I printed out had a bunch of video links and I started to wonder if I was in over my head.  So I head over to the computer to watch the video on Italian two color cast on.  Turns out that the video was awesome and I got the cast on down without any problems.  Then it was on to the set-up rows, which I also was okay with since I was already familiar with the brioche stitch.  
Right side of knitting
Now comes the fun part "Rodekool Brioche Lace Stitch Pattern" section.  Yeah, this was my downfall.  After my first mistake and subsequent ripping out, I realized that I really needed to watch the other videos (one of which was 10 minutes long and I initially swore off watching because "it was too long" ha!).  Turns out that the video showing showing the Rodekool Brioche Lace Stitch Pattern was extremely helpful!!!  Ha!  Who knew that watching a video of what you are doing would actually help you figure out what you are doing?!?!?!  I'm not sure if that sentence made any sense, but I think you get what I'm trying to say. Well, I still had to rip out another 2 or 3 times, but I finally got a hang of the lace stitch pattern and I've been knitting away ever since.  However, it hasn't all been smooth sailing since, but I've been fortunate enough to be able to catch and actually correct the couple of errors I've made.  Phew!  
Wrong side of knitting
Later when I told my mom about the pattern she looked it up and told me it was extraspicy.  In my blindness to knit the pattern, I didn't even notice this.  If you are unfamiliar with Knitty's ratings, extraspicy is their hardest rating for a pattern.  Had I known this, I'm not sure I would have attempted the pattern.  I remember wondering when I first started checking out Knitty if I'd ever be able to knit any patterns beyond mellow or tangy.  I'm glad that I didn't see the extraspicy rating because now I'm going to have the confidence to knit another extraspicy patttern should the fancy strike :o)
Stitches split for the keyhole section of scarf
P.S. For a great website dedicated to all things Brioche Stitch, check out Nancy Marchant's website: http://briochestitch.com/brioche/




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