I knit a second Briochevron Blanket to use all of my left over yarns in one fun project. I’m really happy with the final result! Keep reading for my experience knitting the Briochevron Blanket again after one year.
STASH BUSTING PROJECT
I accumulated a nice little stash of left over yarns from all my projects over the years, but I couldn’t figure out what to do with all of it. I had made a few scrappy projects (like my Brioband Shawl and my Brioband + Fantastitch Combo Shawl), but I wanted to use up all of the yarn into something fun so I could reevaluate my yarn storage and how I plan for future projects. I didn’t want to buy any new yarn until all of my left overs were used up.
I decided that another Briochevron Blanket would be the perfect stash busting option. I already had the pattern from making my first blanket, and I felt a lot more comfortable with brioche this time vs a year ago. Plus, with a blanket, you can knit to your desired length, so I knew I would be able to use all my leftovers.
BRIOCHEVRON BLANKET
The Briochevron Blanket by Stephen West is a fun brioche project that you can customize to be whatever length you want. When I first knit this blanket, I was pretty new to brioche and knitting in general. After another year of knitting, I am more confident in my skills and knitting this project was so much fun.
CAST ON
I knit the Briochevron Blanket on Chiaogoo Interchangeable US 7 needles, using my 50″ cable. I chose a little smaller needle so that the brioche could be a little more crisp/dense. My original blanket was knit on US 8 and it has a slinkier feel.
LIFE LINES + STITCH MARKERS
In my first Briochevron Blanket, I used tons of life lines. I would insert some scrap yarn into my interchangeable needles and knit it through each 4th row to give me a safety net in case I made a mistake. The life lines really helped me at the time, but looking back at my project post, I don’t think I used any stitch markers while knitting!
This blanket is very simple to knit with the pattern just repeated throughout. Using stitch markers between each repeat is essential to keeping track in the pattern since the rows are so long. It’s no wonder I had so many issues last time on the increase/decrease rows!
This time around, I did have an issue where I dropped some stitches and needed to do some repair work. I hadn’t been using any life lines up to that point, so it was a very stressful repair. I definitely recommend using life lines, just in case something crazy happens. I insert a life line after I fixed my error, and luckily never needed to rip back to it. This video helped me again with my brioche mistakes:
BRIOCHEVRON BLANKET COLORS
As I mentioned, this blanket started out as my ultimate stash busting project. I wanted to use all of my left over yarn completely so I could reassess my yarn storage and what future yarn I would buy.
I tried to organize my colors into a rainbow fade on both sides of the blanket. On the RS, I started with a more bold/solid rainbow and the WS was more variegated.
I mostly used all fingering weight yarn held double, and a little bit of DK I had left from my original Briochevron Blanket. Using fingering yarn allowed me to marl my colors together. I really like the look/transition between colors that marling gives. Marling colors also made it easier to use up every scrap of yarn because I could knit until a color ran out and then just join a new color even in the middle of a row without it looking too jarring.
As my blanket grew, I realized that my rainbow fade wouldn’t look very cohesive if I used all my stash yarns. Most of my yarn had a similar hue/brightness, but a few colors were drastically darker/lighter and looked too harsh when I tried to incorporate them.
I ended up knitting the blanket until I ran out of the main rainbow palette and bound off with a bright lime green.
FINISHED BRIOCHEVRON BLANKET 2
My finished blanket is beautiful. It’s wide enough for two people but it’s only a lap-blanket size at 3.5′ x 4.5′. It’s the perfect size for my dog’s giant bed and she loves it so much.
The Briochevron Blanket is a great stash-buster. I am so happy that I could incorporate so many beautiful yarns into this project. I only have small quantities of just three colors left in my stash. And now that I have less yarn, I feel a lot better about bringing in new yarn and planning future projects.
This blanket is a fun knit and a great starter brioche project. The pattern is easy to memorize, but the issues I originally had are still there. It wasn’t a big deal for me this second time around, but it may be confusing for a new knitter.
Check out my Ravelry to see the other projects I’m working on!
