The Green Tea Chai Scarf is a two color brioche scarf, knit flat. Regular increases and decreases create the leafy pattern. The stitch pattern is easy to memorize, and it’s a great opportunity to learn to read your knitting.
Pattern requires two 100g balls of worsted weight yarn in contrasting colors. Knit to the length you like. Gauge is not critical. I used two balls of Malabrigo Rios in contrasting colors for my scarf.
You can find this pattern on Ravelry and Payhip. And in Brioche Knit Love, of course! If you’re planning to purchase more than 3 or 4 patterns, you’re better off purchasing the e-book or paperback. I like giving options. The download consists of two files: the pattern, and the abbreviations used in the pattern.
Use coupon code SIPPER for 15% off through January 31, 2026. (Editing to add: this coupon now works on both Green Tea Chai and Seafoam Latte! Use on one or the other, or both.)
A note: RIP Alex Pretti and Renee Good. My heart is broken for the people of Minneapolis.
I should have knit the Peekaboo Shawlette on a smaller needle. I did correct that in the pattern, but the looseness bothered me in person. It made the motifs not quite close at the top.
I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do with this. I’ve charted it out and I just have to wait until the yarn is dry so I can wind it back up.
The lovely yarn is from A Chick That Knitz in the Singles Fingering in Forget Me Not and Glenhaven (green).
Stop me before I frog again!
I don’t have any further frogging plans, so I think we’re safe. For now.
I have a shawl that I don’t wear, and I decided to frog it (rip-it! rip-it!) to give the yarn another chance to shine.
I didn’t publish this design; I didn’t like the edge (this was my first attempt at putting brioche and assigned pooling together). And I decided (much later) that I didn’t love the high tonal contrast of this dark purple with the pooling yarn.
I decided to frog it with the ICE knitters today. It was 31 degrees F when I left the house, and I knew my current tiny needle entrelac project would be too fussy for cold fingers. Ripping is much easier.
I got most of it done, but had to finish at home. Too cold!
Why yes, I was wearing my Portland Frog Hat while frogging!
It didn’t look too bad in the ball, but you can see how kinky the yarn is when it’s no longer under tension. I wound the purple yarn on my 2 yard niddy-noddy, and the pooling yarn on my swift. The swift is easier; I’m not sure if I put a twist in with the niddy-noddy.
The yarn has been soaked, and it’s now hanging to dry. I may use a lighter purple, or what if I went all the way wacky and used magenta? Too much? I have some velvety deep blue in the same base, and that could be nice, too. This is MadelineTosh Twist Light.
I need to get something on my needles before I leave for New York next week! I’ve packed my teaching suitcase with class supplies and tech, so I’m almost ready.
I’m feeling frightfully organized this month. I taught my first (online) class of 2026 on Friday; it was First Steeks for Modern Daily Knitting. We had a blast, and the chat window was filled with glee as students reported that they had cut their knitting. So much fun!
I’ve scheduled local classes through April. My next local class is on Zoom! I’m teaching Advanced Tink Drop Frog: Fixing Mistakes (including lace) on Saturday, February 7 via For Yarn’s Sake. This is a great way to up your knitting skills! Register here.
I’m reviewing Powerpoint presentations this week (oh! I forgot; the young people are calling them slide decks these days) for my classes at Vogue Knitting Live NYC so I can pack my teaching suitcase for next week.
And I’m planning the classes I’ll be teaching at Red Alder in February, including my newest class Embellished Brioche: Brioche plus Assigned Pooling. I’m also teaching Brioche Pastiche (beginning brioche), Brioche Doctor, and Assigned Pooling. There’s still room in some classes; check it out here.
My calendar is tidy, so my mind must be, too! Sure.
I published 10 new patterns in 2025, and gave Brioche Pastiche a big glow up for my Modern Daily Knitting brioche class. Not bad! Patterns are: Jelly Jewels (jewelry organizer), Portland Frog Hat (free), Fantasia Cowlette, Simply Stellar Shawlette, Log Cabin Love Coasters (for January 2026 Modern Daily knitting steek class), Flower Power Entrelac, Scattered Petals, Fired Up, Starstruck, Peekaboo Shawlette, and Brioche Pastiche.
Seven of my new patterns featured assigned pooling (four of those combined brioche and assigned pooling), and five featured brioche. I do have my favorite techniques, don’t I?
The Portland Frog Hat got the most attention this year.
2025 Top Nine
Eight of my Top Nine Instagram posts were related to protest, and the last picture wasn’t even mine! It was a tagged collaboration.
Time to move on to 2026! My first class of the year is Log Cabin Love Coasters, an online class for Modern Daily Knitting. Come cut your first steek with me! It’s very non-threatening when it’s just coasters. Class is on Friday January 16, and it’s recorded so you can see it more than once, or if the time isn’t convenient for you. Register here!
I’m in the Guardian! Earlier this month I was contacted by a reporter about crafting and activism. I put her in touch with Tracy Wright, who is also mentioned in this article. The gist of the story is that common interests make it easier to participate in protest. True!
Barbara G. Walker, 1930 – 2025. Feminist, knitter, designer, artist, inventor of the SSK.
Before the SSK? We used to SKP. Slip one as if to knit, knit one, pass slip stitch over. Barbara realized that slip, slip, knit gave you the exact same result. Quicker, and less distortion. I also use SSK inside my right leaning brioche decreases.
I met Barbara Walker at Sock Summit in 2009. She taught classes there, and was also one of the speakers in a panel of luminaries. Brilliant.
We’re back from a week in Kona, Hawaii. It was warm, wonderful, and very relaxing. And now I’m home with access to my stash, so I could have another crack at knitted words.
My guess was correct: Bigger yarn and tighter gauge, along with more tonal contrast, makes my letters much more readable. These letters are from the Knit Hello ebook by Rüdiger Schlömer. You can order a copy of this ebook from Modern Daily Knitting if you’d like to knit your words, too. What would you have your knitting say?
My favorite vacation activity was watching the Geminid meteor shower over several nights. At first I was watching at 5 am, because Orion is setting into the sea at that time, and Gemini is just above and to the right.
But then I realized that the meteors were all over the sky, not just out of Gemini. So I started watching in the evenings, too. Sometimes it’s easier to stay up late than to get up early!
One of our adult kids came to join us in Kona; we had fun doing the usual: Turtle spotting, star/meteor-gazing, tide pooling, hanging out on beaches, admiring sunsets. It’s nice to have some time to catch up with each other.
Carvings at Pu’uhonua ō HōnaunauHonu (green turtle) at Ai’opio BeachLooking back at fish trap and Ai’opio BeachSunset at Kailua Kona (in town)Lavaman Red (center) is only available at the source (brew pub)Last sunset from the lanai before going home
Now it’s time to get ready for Christmas! The tree is up.
I’m looking forward to teaching at Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat, February 12-15! I’m scheduled to teach 3 brioche classes (my favorite, as you know), and an assigned pooling class.
My newest brioche class is Embellished Brioche, which uses brioche rib as a background for assigned pooling. If you know how to knit brioche rib, this would be a great addition to your brioche toolkit. You can add assigned pooling to any of your brioche rib projects; you just need to know your strategy. I would love a few more students for this class.
Pre-registration is important for events like Red Alder; a class may be cut if it doesn’t get enough pre-registration before January 4. Embellished Brioche is in that danger zone. Treat yourself, and treat me, too! Here are some examples of brioche + pooling:
StarstruckPeekaboo CowlScattered Petals
My other classes are:
Brioche Pastiche (beginning 2 color brioche in the round)Brioche Doctor (fixing brioche mistakes)Fun stitches for assigned pooling
If you are planning to come to Red Alder, please pre-register for classes! There is limited registration available on-site, but for maximum choice, pre-registration before January 4 is the way to go.
Are you a gift knitter? Were getting down to the wire on deadlines, but a worsted weight hat is still a perfectly achievable gift! I’m repeating a post from 2020 to help you out.
What’s this? It looks like a hat, and it is. But more importantly, it was a gauge swatch. It was a double dip!
I knit a yoked sweater for DH in 2021. But first I knit a hat, to check my gauge. The sweater was Dreyma by Jennifer Steingass.
Dreyma
Of course, a gauge swatch for a sweater should be washed and blocked. Treat your swatch the way you plan to treat your FO! Bisquee helped with the blocking train.
Hats are pretty simple. Here’s a recipe. Measure your head. You want your hat to measure 1-2“ less than that. Negative ease keeps your hat from sliding over your eyes. Take your estimated gauge (I’m relying on the ballband guess of 5 sts/inch on a US 7. Multiply that by the number of inches you want (20” in this case). That gave me a cast on of 100 sts. I wanted to add the colorwork pattern from Dreyma, which has a repeat of 8 sts, so I cast on 104 instead of 100 (13 x 8 = 104). That would make the hat between 20 and 21”, which is fine. I could have used 96 instead, which would make the hat 19.5”. Same same. I used a 16” circular needle.
(I can’t include the colorwork pattern; it belongs to Jennifer Steingass. But you can use whatever colorwork pattern you wish, or make a plain hat.)
I like a K2P2 ribbing on the edge, which means my cast on should be a multiple of 4. 96, 100, and 104 are all fine for that. Use a needle 2 sizes smaller than the needle for the body of the hat (US 5 in this case). Knit K2P2 ribbing to desired height. Change to larger needles and knit stockinette until piece measures 5.5” from the cast on (I tried 6.5” first, based on the common wisdom that a hat is as tall as your hand before you start the crown shaping, but it was too tall. 5.5” is plenty.)
Start crown decreases. I like a crown divided into 8 wedges. Ooh, look, my cast on was a multiple of 8! Perfect. (If you don’t have a multiple of 8, decrease some stitches on the first decrease round so that you do.)
I have 8 sections of 13 sts each. I’ll decrease with a k2tog for the last 2 sts of each section.
Rnd 1: *K11, k2tog, place marker, rep from * to end. (You’re just knitting the last 2 stitches of each wedge together to decrease.)
Rnd 2: Knit all sts.
Rnd 3: *K10, k2 tog, slip marker, rep from * to end.
Rnd 4: Knit all sts.
Keep decreasing every other round, until 8 sts remain. Move work to dpns or magic loop or 2 circulars when it gets too tight on the circular needle. (Don’t knit the final plain round after the last decreases. Pointy.) Cut yarn, use a yarn needle and run yarn tail through all sts, twice. Drop yarn to inside of hat, cinch up tight, sew in ends. Done!
When the hat was dry, I checked my gauge to see if it changed after washing and blocking. It’s the post-blocking gauge that decides the ultimate measurements of the sweater. But you also have to know the pre-blocking gauge, which you’re going to match while knitting. Measure twice, knit once! Apologies to This Old House.
If you’d like an easy to print pdf of the Gauge Hat pattern, click here.
Need to knit a quick gift? There’s still time to knit a hat!
Find my patterns on Ravelry: Michele Bernstein Designs
Here are some of my favorites, and the newest. Many of my designs are also available through my Payhip store.
PDXKnitterati 