This is Brèid by Kate Davies. The pattern is included in her Knitting Wester Ross book and can also be purchased as a digital pattern on Ravelry or in the Pittenweem shop.
It's a small triangle that can worn as a headscarf or as a cowl. The pattern includes instructions for adding i-cord ties to help you secure it around your head or neck. I chose to add a button and loop instead (more on that later).
I was initially attracted by the bold colourwork pattern and thought it would make a good addition to our mini-scarf collection in the shop.
Small scarves continue to be super popular - both straightforward garter stitch triangles and designs with a little bit more technique.
Now, this triangle is knitted in the round. Again a plus for me as I find stranded colourwork much more enjoyable when knitted in the round. When you knit in the round the right side of your knitting faces you so you don't need to purl to make stocking stitch. For stranded colourwork that means you are only stranding in the knit stitch. You don't need to strand in purl stitch back along a row which I find really slows me down.
You're perhaps wondering how can you make a triangle by knitting in the round? By decreasing at the beginning and end of each round to create a cone shape that you then cut open.
Yes! This little triangle uses steek stitches.
This was another plus for me as it's been ages since I've steeked anything and this pattern uses a new-to-me-technique of needle felting the steek stitches to secure them before cutting them open.
If you're feeling baffled (and horrified) don't worry! I've taken lots of photos and I'll link below all the tools and tutorials to help you make your own Bréid.
First you have to choose your yarn and 2 colours.
A non-superwash wool is best. It'll give you good stitch definition for your stranded colourwork, a more secure cut to your steek and in this case allow you to needle felt the steek stitches.
I knew I wanted to use Wee County Yarn's Kinross 4ply and I stuck close to the classic blue and white in the pattern and chose Cromarty and Quartz.
Kinross is 100% lambswool and when washed it blooms and softens to make an incredible fabric. People often liken it to cashmere. It's perfect for wearing next to your neck or forehead. It also works really well in stranded colourwork as it's a 100% non-superwash wool and it blooms when washed helping the individual stitches and colours to nestle close together making your stitches look even and colour pattern crisp.
Next you need to cast on and start the stranded colourwork pattern.
I started with a 40cm circular needle which fit all the stitches - you start with the long edge and decrease down to the mid point. At some point you will have too few stitches to fit around a 40cm needle. At this point I moved to using Magic Loop. When you get near the tip, Magic Loop gets a bit awkward as you have so few stitches, you may find using Double Pointed Needles (DPNs) easier at that point.
You can of course do the whole thing using Magic Loop or DPNs.
(Magic loop is a technique where you use an extra long circular needle to knit a small circumference.)
The colourwork pattern is fully charted and the longest strand is over 7 stitches so you don't need to catch the strands or floats too often, although to be fair I don't really catch floats as I find it distorts the front too much.
As I said, the triangle shape is made by decreasing one stitch at the beginning and end of each round - making a cone. To turn this cone into a flat piece of fabric you cut it open after you've finished knitting.
So that you're not cutting into the main fabric, extra stitches are added between the first and last stitches. These extra stitches are called steek stitches. In this case there are 9 extra stitches. Because I'm doing stranded colourwork I need to carry each colour across those stitches hence the vertical stripes.
Once cut, those extra stitches can be folded back to create a 'clean' edge and a triangle shape.
But I don't just cut up the middle of them. That could lead to a frayed and delicate edge. First I want to 'secure' them. The Bréid pattern suggests using needle felting to felt the steek stitches before cutting.
After speaking with Clare from Wee County Yarns she recommended washing the scarf first, BEFORE needle felting it. Kinross still retains some of the spinning oils used to help the wool through the spinning machines. We wondered if those oils may affect the needle felting process. I'm not sure if this was necessary but it couldn't do any harm.
I washed it in Eucalan, soaking it for at least 30 minutes. I then drained the water, squished out excess water then laid it out flat to dry. Once dry I could already see a difference in the stitch definition and the fabric was softer.
The Bréid pattern links to this needle felting tutorial which I found very useful and I basically followed the instructions and used the same tools:
A brush mat and a 3 needle, needle felting 'pen'.
A needle felting needle has a sharp barb at one end. Repeatedly stabbing wool tops or a wool fabric with this needle will cause it to felt. In the case of my stranded colourwork it will mush everything together and create one solid fabric - not individual stitches. Therefore I can cut it without it fraying or unravelling.
You place your fabric over the brush mat to both protect your surface and the needle but also to provide extra friction between the needle and the fabric. You have to be careful not to stretch your knitting. Just place it down.
I found the brush mat was very good, better than a foam mat, as my needle didn't get stuck, so it was easier to repeatedly stab my knitting. I did have to do it quite a bit of stabbing though.
I moved the brush mat up inside the 'cone' to felt each part in turn. I was careful to stay within the stripe area and I tried not to over felt.
You can see small bit here which is over-mushed where I've lost the stitch definition on the right side of the scarf.
But it's nice and felty inside!
When I got nearer the tip of the cone I had to bunch it up a bit to fit the brush in. I just took my time and made sure I was only needle felting the steek stitches and nothing was caught underneath.
Obviously this would be easier if it was just a straight tube and not a cone.
I couldn't reach the tip at all so I decided to leave that last bit and needle felt the edges once I cut open the steek stitches.
Once I was happy everything (bar the tip) was felted and with the right side facing me, I used a sharp pair of scissors and choose the middle of the middle stitches and cut...
Once cut open I needle felted the edge of the 'tip'.
It definitely looks a bit rougher than the rest of the edge, but it's secure.
Now I can proceed with the garter stitch and i-cord sides.
You start at the bottom right corner (as seen in the photo above) and pick up 3 stitches in every 4 rows to the peak, go around the peak and pick up 3 stitches in every 4 rows to the bottom left corner.
You are picking up stitches where you made the decreases - to the side of the now-cut steek stitches. That way the flap left by cutting open your cone will fold back behind the garter edge.
There is a choice where exactly you pick up stitches... I choose to pick up stitches between the line of decreases and the steek stitch to leave the pronounced decrease stitch visible, as it created another decorative effect.
Next I made the i-cord ties and added them whilst picking up stitches along the long edge.
This is where I ran into a few issues...
The pattern tells you to pick up stitches along the long edge but you now have the top of the garter stitch edge that you just made. I choose to pick up stitches along these bits too, to make one clean straight edge.
Secondly I didn't like the look of the i-cord ties. They looked abit scrawny, so I impulsively decided to take them off and make one button loop instead.
Thirdly, when you pick up stitches along the edge you end up with a gap between the edge and the stranded colourwork pattern...
I did not like this at all! And it's not what the pattern photos look like either.
So I ripped it back and picked up stitches further into the fabric instead...
This meant I had a bigger piece of fabric at the back of the garter stitch edge which might make the edge roll. I hoped blocking would solve this issue...
After weaving in all the ends I washed the scarf again. I then pinned the scarf out to create straight sides and stop the long edge rolling.
I also tried to make sure the 'flaps' made from cutting the steek stitches laid flat at the back.
Once dry I unpinned...
The pattern recommends sewing down the steek stitches with needle and thread or adding a ribbon to cover the raw edge. I have done neither. The edge is quite neat and secure, so far! So I've left it unstitched. I didn't want to add more bulk.
The very last thing I did was add a button.
And yes, this is probably the most work per square inch of project I have ever done!😆
But I thoroughly enjoyed making this little scarf:
- Kinross 4ply is lovely to work with and gives a beautiful finish
- The stranded colourwork was quite straightforward. The chart looks complex (it shows the whole scarf) but much of it is a pattern repeat. And since the pattern is a bold repeat you can anticipate what comes next. There's also no excessively long strand/floats.
- Although technique heavy - stranded colourwork in the round and over less and less stitches, decreasing, steek stitches, needle felting, picking up stitches, i-cord cast off - you work through them methodically.
- It looks and feels so impressive! Lovely as a cowl or as a headscarf if you like Little House of Prairie look.
To recap
To can get a copy of Bréid in the Knitting Wester Ross book or as a digital pattern on Ravelry or in the Pittenweem shop.
You can buy Wee County Yarns Kinross 4py here. I used less than 1 skein each of Cromarty (25g) and Quartz (18g). You can use other 4plys. I'd recommend a non-superwash wool which will give you a good finish on your stranded colourwork and allow you to needle felt the steek.
I used 3mm needles. one 40cm, another 80cm (for magic loop) you can also use DPNs.
You'll need 2 small stitch markers too to mark the steek stitches.
