I finished the Damask Cowl last Sunday, and blocked it yesterday, so today I have a photo of it fully completed to share.
Turns out that binding off brioche is a bit of a pain. It’s the only bit I didn’t try or practice before getting started on this project. I mostly assumed that having gotten so far, I would have to figure it out!
Then I got there, and for a few minutes there was despair about what a total pain in the arse this was going to be. First of all, I’ve been using this website as recommended in the instructions (same woman). And if you look at the site you may notice that while there is a two-color Italian cast on, there is only a single Italian bind-off which is called a one-color Italian bind off.
This led to a fruitless search of the internet for a two-color Italian cast-off before realizing that I just needed to pick one of my colors and use that since a two-color one doesn’t exist.
Next, you’ll notice how snakey the pathway of the yarn you are using is on the Italian bind-off. Half of the time you are threading the yarn through a stitch that’s further in on the needle – not the one at the end. Throw in all of the “shawls” over half of the stiches , I’d bound off about 4 or 5 stitches before I started to hate it and regret ever thinking brioche was fun.
Happily, as I was starting to feel more and more grumpy, my memory spoke up and said “wait a sec, didn’t some of those other websites about Italian cast-off you found compare it to kitchener stitch?”
I looked again at the pathway illustrated – and it is kitchener! Just that one color is the “near side” and the other color the “far side” and your “purls” are knits on the other side, just like a sock.
So, I realized I could keep my stitches straight if I threaded every other stitch onto different needles, then I’d be binding off like I graft sock toes together, just over a much longer distance:
When I graft my sock toes, I always treat the two front or two back stitches as one action (so thread knit/purl wise through the two front side stitches or thread purl/knit wise through the two back stiches) which makes it easy to put down and pick up where I left off on such a long edge.
And today – a (mostly) dry cowl:
I’m happy that it didn’t grow so the brioche is still neat and tidy. It’s going to be crazy warm with the double thickness of alpaca, so I think this is for next winter given that spring is here. It’s also just long enough that I can twist it double around my neck for a really close warm fit if I want.