Blooming Brioche KAL - the Swatch

A couple months ago I started following the amazing designer Xandy Peters on Instagram (of Fox Paws fame, if that means anything to you) and when this picture came up:

Repost @xandypeters

I knew I was going to make it. I didn't even know for sure what kind of garment or object this detail was a part of, but I was immediately convinced that I was going to go along with the knit-along she mentions in the post.

Since then, I have seen the full shawl that this is a part of. Xandy announced the knit-along a few weeks ago and I jumped on board.

When you bought the pattern, you got general information about the shawl and what yarn you would need. I went stash diving and pulled out anything that might be suitable.

I didn't find anything that I loved right away but I whittled it down to workable options. When the instructions for the swatching came out this week, I tried two options:

It's the same orangey-red with a green and with a black. I also used the swatches to compare two methods of doing brioche. The green one was done the traditional way where you work with one colour at a time, meaning each row is worked twice--once with colour A and once with colour B. The black was done with the "one-pass" method where you work with both colours as you go down the row so you only work each row once.

I'm not sure if the difference in the length of the two swatches is because of the brioche method or the difference in the yarns, but you can see it is significant. Each swatch was worked the same number of rows, but the green one is much longer. The black swatch was done with fewer stitches (don't ask), but it is just as wide. I'm going to let the swatches relax a few days before I measure gauge and compare them more thoroughly.

In the meantime, here is a picture of each against a white background:

And here is a picture of each of them held up so you can see how airy or lacy they are:

The green one has a lighter look to it (more holes) and in fact feels lighter in my hand too. It also feels smoother as the black yarn itself is much coarser.

I have until Thursday to decide because that is when the next step is released.