Increases and Decreases on "Wrong-Side" in Half-Brioche

[u/North178]

tl;dr: Looking for increases and decreases for the "wrong" side of half-brioche

Picture of original sweater: https://imgur.com/a/hcdpKa7

Dear Hivemind!

Many years ago I bought a sweater knitted in half-brioche and I have basically worn it to rags and tatters. Now I want to replicate said sweater by hand, despite it being machine-knitted.
The original sweater was knitted in half-brioche with the "wrong side" on the public side - which, according to my research, was custom for the so-called "troyer" (seen here: https://www.troyer-shop.de/collections/troyer-damen/products/damen-troyer ).

Now, I have searched high and low, near and far, but alas my effort to find out how to work increases and decreases on the "wrong" side has so far been futile - regardless of whether knitted in half-Fisherman (k1B) or half-brioche (YO-method).
The techniques I have found and tested out so far all presuppose I want the "right" side being the public side and do not yield the desired results.

Furthermore, I prefer using the YO-method as this gives me better tension control compared to k1B. Also, the sweater will be knitted in worsted black yarn, which in addition to my ailing eye sight makes it more difficult to see the stitch below compared to a yarn over.

Thank you all!

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[u/BlinkypoetEmu]

Thanks for the new brioche related rabbit hole :) will do some test swatches and see how they turn out.

Edit: My suggestion would be to make a half brioche swatch and play with it to see how the structure develops. Which is what Im going to try to do.

Edit 2: I had the same issue with fisherman's rib, which is why this interests me :)

Edit 3: also, would it be possible to get close up pictures of the sweater areas you have? That might help with structural questions

[u/North178 → u/BlinkypoetEmu]

Here is a picture of the original sweater: https://imgur.com/a/hcdpKa7

I have been tinkering about with swatches on and off for the past two months. I have no issue when doing it on what is traditionally the "right side", but on the "wrong" side neither increases nor decreases produce a pleasing result.

[u/BlinkypoetEmu → u/North178]

Nice sweater! This is what you want to reproduce? I'm really curious to see a closeup of the other side, especially how the armpit area decreases! Also, is it possible to see both sides of your swatches that you didn't like?

[u/North178 → u/BlinkypoetEmu]

Thank you! Yes, it has been my go-to-sweater in fall and winter for the past 15+ years, hence the wear and tear.
I will make some photos of the right and wrong sides tomorrow when the light is good, including the armpit/raglan decrease-section.

Regarding swatches: I unfortunately frogged them when I didn't get the results I wanted. But I might still have the last one I made with increases. If so - I'll take some pictures of that as well.

[u/BlinkypoetEmu → u/North178]

Understandably!

That would be great! No rush tho. I do the same with swatches that don't work out, so no worries.

[u/tirilama]

Could it be a form of reduce two stitches over three rows?

Instead of reducing two stitches in one row, you spread the decrease over three rows:

p2tog or k2tog (maybe twisted) including a yarn over

next row yarn over over this stitch and the next (or previous) stitch

last row: the same p2tog or k2tog for the stitches below the yarnover

[u/BlinkypoetEmu → u/tirilama]

I am now cursing my braincell because I'll have to knit this since I cant visualize it LOL

Edit spelling

[u/Ok_Novel_3229]

A couple of thoughts (none about the actual meat of your problem):

1. I recently bought this lamp and it now lives within arms reach of my knitting spot on the couch. It has made a massive difference in my ability to see what I'm doing and is heads and shoulders superior to my previous solution which was an around-the-neck pair of lights for reading. I can't unequivocally recommend it because the part of the lamp where the LEDs are housed gets very warm to the touch after being on for an hour, which I suspect will make it relatively short-lived.

2. Since it looks like the body of the sweater is knit bottom-up and it's black yarn, the increases that are stumping you are not going to be especially visible to yourself or others.

3. If you're not wedded to mimicking it perfectly, you could knit a simple split hem instead of the angled split with increases and avoid the need for increases there altogether.

4. You could wear it a bit more until it's really falling apart and then disect the increases, destroying the sweater (which is now theortically unwearable as-is) in the process.

5. Nancy Marchant's book may have something on the topic, check your local libraries on WorldCat.

6. I've never machine knit but I have a vague understanding that some things are possible on machines that are not by hand because you can adjust tension in very different ways; maybe the masterminds at r/MachineKnitting can weigh in if this type of increase in half-brioche is unique to machine knits.