Increasing stitches in a brioche pattern seems to be a complicated task. Scary-looking abbreviations like brk-yo-brk and brp-yo-brp don’t help one bit to change that impression. But the truth is – brioche increases are as easy as any other increases we make in knitting.
If you’ve been shying away from adding shaping to your brioche knits, or from knitting more advanced brioche stitch patterns because you thought it is difficult to decrease or increase stitches in brioche fabric, I am happy to show you that there is nothing to fear.
We learned how easy it is to decrease stitches in brioche when we discussed right-slanting and left-slanting brioche decreases over here.
Now, let’s see how we can make brioche knit increases and brioche purl increases without even flinching.
Because brioche stitch has a two-stitch pattern repeat, it is best to increase two stitches at the same time. This way, we won’t disrupt the structure of brioche, and let the added stitches flow seamlessly into the fabric right from the start.
Sometimes, we need to add increases to a knit stitch. In other cases, increases are added to a purl. In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at both scenarios.
If you’d rather watch each step in a video tutorial:
BRIOCHE KNIT INCREASES – BRK-YO-BRK
To add a two-stitch increase to a knit stitch, stop when you get to that stitch.
STEP 1
Knit the stitch + a yarn over combo together as one stitch. This move is also known as “brioche knit” and is often abbreviated as BRK – the first part of that scary abbreviation BRK-YO-BRK.
But unlike the usual “brioche knit”, we don’t slip the knitted stitch off the left needle yet.
STEP 2
Now let’s get to the second part of the abbreviation – YO. It means a “yarn over”, and that’s exactly what we are making in the second step of forming a brioche knit increase.
Bring the yarn to the front of the work and move it over the top of the right needle to the back.
STEP 3
The final part of the process is to make a “brioche knit” (BRK) again.
To keep the texture of brioche consistent, we make that knit stitch out of the same stitch and yarn over combo that we’ve already knitted in step 1.
That’s why we kept that stitch + yarn over duo on the left needle. We knew we’d knit it once more.
Now that we knitted it again, it is time to let it go. Slip this stitch off the left needle.
All stitches are added to the project, and we continue to work in a brioche pattern to the end of the row or round.
NEXT ROW OR ROUND
When we get to this cluster of three stitches in the next row or round, we work those stitches in the established brioche pattern.
We make a yarn over and slip the first stitch of the cluster.
Then we knit the next stitch. Because this is the stitch that we’ve just added to the work, it doesn’t have a yarn over companion just yet. That’s why we knit this stitch as a solo stitch.
If you work in the round, purl this solo stitch.
Finally, we make a yarn over and slip the third stitch of the cluster.
After we work a few rows or rounds, the brioche knit increase will look like this on the front and back side of the fabric:
BRIOCHE PURL INCREASES – BRP-YO-BRP
If you work in the round, or your brioche pattern is built in such a way that yarn overs accompany purl stitches, and you want to add a two-stitch increase to a purl, stop when you get to that stitch.
STEP 1
Bring the yarn to the front of the work and purl the stitch + yarn over combo together as one stitch, but don’t slip this combo off the left needle yet.
This move is known as “brioche purl”, and it is often marked with an abbreviation BRP.
STEP 2
Now, it is time to make a yarn over. Bring the yarn to the front of the work, and move it over the right needle to the back.
STEP 3
Finally, bring the yarn to the front of the work again (make sure you don’t unravel the yarn over we made in step 2), and purl the same stitch + yarn over duo again.
Slip this “brioche purl” off the left needle.
Continue to work in brioche pattern until you finish the row or round.
NEXT ROW OR ROUND
Because we added two stitches at the same time, we kept the brioche pattern consistent. So we work in the usual brioche pattern until we get to the cluster of three stitches that we formed when we made the brioche purl increase.
Then we make a yarn over and slip the first stitch of the cluster.
The second stitch is a newly hatched little fellow, and it doesn’t have a yarn over companion yet, so we purl this stitch as a solo stitch.
If you work in the round, knit this stitch.
Finally, we make a yarn over and slip the last stitch of the cluster.
Continue to work in the established brioche pattern, and soon you will see that your brioche purl increase looks like this:
Beautiful look without much effort. Definitely not scary!
These increases are the same no matter whether we add them to projects knitted back and forth, or the ones worked in the round.
The method also doesn’t change when we add these increases to a brioche stitch knitted in one colour or to a two-colour brioche stitch.
Plus, these increases work well for increasing stitches not only in the classic brioche ribbing, but also in other variations of brioche.
For example, here’s what a brioche knit increase looks like in a honeycomb brioche pattern:
Whatever the situation, follow the three simple steps we’ve just discussed, and you’ll add impeccable increases to any brioche project.
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