We’ve already discussed how we can make honeycomb brioche stitch when we knit back and forth. Now, let’s take a look at a way to create the gorgeous honeycomb texture when we work in the round.
The simple four-round repeat explained in this tutorial will allow you to make cozy cowls, hats, mittens, socks and seamless sweaters without much effort.
I’ll share with you tips that will help you to work this stitch pattern almost mindlessly, without even following the round-for-round instructions.
Sounds exciting? Let’s see how we can do it.
Cast on an even number of stitches using a cast-on method that forms a fairly rigid edge. Honeycomb brioche is a highly textured stitch pattern and it needs firm edges to keep it from stretching too much.
Arrange stitches for working in the round using your favourite way to make seamless projects – double-pointed needles, one short circular needle, two short circular needles or one long circular needle using the magic loop technique.
It is better to join stitches for working in the round, but if you don’t mind closing the gap between stitches when you weave in the tail, you can easily skip this step.
To make my little swatch, I cast on 16 stitches using the long-tail cast on, divided them into two equal groups and arranged them on a long circular needle to work in the round using the magic loop method.
SET UP ROUND
[ Purl 1, slip 1 purlwise with the yarn in front of the work, make a yarn over ]
If your stitches are divided into groups, be careful not to lose the yarn over created at the end of each group of stitches as you move the work between the needles. It helps to temporarily push the working yarn inside the work before you start to rearrange the stitches on the needles.
Repeat the instructions in the brackets until you get to the end of the round.
Because we added yarn overs in this round, the number of stitches increased by half. Instead of 20 stitches I cast on, now I have 30 stitches on my needles.
When you count stitches, either don’t count yarn overs, or count a yarn over plus a stitch that is the closest to it as one stitch. This yarn over + stitch duo is often called a “brioche stitch” and treated as one stitch.
The stitch pattern is set up and we can confidently move on to work the four rounds of the pattern repeat.
WATCH EVERY STEP IN THIS VIDEO TUTORIAL
(if you don’t see the video, turn off the ad blocker in your browser)
ROUND 1
[ Knit 2 (these should be regular stitches, not a yarn over!), slip the yarn over purlwise with the yarn at the back of the work ]
Repeat the brackets to the end of the round.
ROUND 2
[ Slip 1 purlwise with the yarn in front of the work, make a yarn over, purl 2 together ]
The pair of stitches that we purl together should always be a yarn over + a stitch that is the closest to it.
Repeat the brackets to the end of the round.
ROUND 3
[ Knit 1, slip a yarn over with the yarn at the back of the work, knit 1 ]
Repeat the brackets to the end of the round.
ROUND 4
[ Purl 2 together (yarn over + stitch), slip 1 purlwise with the yarn in front of the work, make a yarn over ]
Repeat the brackets to the end of the round. Keep the yarn overs safe at the end of each group of stitches as you move the stitches around the needles.
Work these four rounds for as long as you need to add the honeycomb brioche texture to your project.
It is very hard to fix mistakes in the honeycomb brioche pattern, so I highly recommend inserting a lifeline after you finish the first pattern repeat. Move the lifeline up every time you finish another pattern repeat, and it will save you from unravelling the whole project in case you make a mistake in one of the rounds.
As we follow the round-for-round instructions, it becomes obvious that we always do the same thing:
Every odd-numbered round is a knit round. The working yarn is always at the back of the work, and we knit each regular stitch and slip every yarn over with the yarn at the back of the work.
Every even-numbered round is a purl round. The yarn stays in front of the work, and we purl together every yarn over + stitch combo, and add a yarn over to each stand-alone stitch.
Once we realize that it all boils down to this simple process, we don’t even have to follow the written instructions. All we need is to know whether we are about to start a knit or a purl round.
There are two ways to determine this.
If you start a new round right after you finish a round, simply remember whether the yarn was at the back or at the front of the work in the previous round. Bring the yarn to the front if the previous round was a knit round and bring the yarn to the back if you’ve just finished a purl round.
Another way to understand which round you are about to start is to look at the stitches right underneath the needle. Because we purl 2 stitches together in every purl round, those purls will show at the bottom of each stand-alone stitch at the beginning of a knit round.
Simply pay attention to those purls and you will know for sure whether you are about to start a knit or a purl round, even if you put the work down a while ago and don’t remember which round was the last one you’ve worked.
For example, if you look at the swatch in the photo below, you will see that each stand-alone stitch has a little bump at the bottom.
This means, that we’ve just finished a purl round and are about to start a knit one.
The swatch in the photo below doesn’t have any visible bumps under the stand-alone stitches. That is a clear sign that we are about to purl every yarn over + stitch duo and add a yarn over after each slipped stand-alone stitch.
BIND OFF
When you bind off stitches in a knit round, knit together each yarn over + stitch duo and knit each stand-alone stitch.
When you bind off stitches in a purl round, knit together each yarn over + stitch duo, knit each stand-alone stitch and don’t make any new yarn overs.
Fix the gap between the first and the last bound off stitches, and you’ll have a neat bind off edge that nicely frames your beautiful project.
That’s how simple it is. Now you can easily make gorgeous hats, cowls, mittens and sweaters without following any stitch pattern charts or written instructions. If someone happens to witness this “magic-in-the-making”, they will definitely be impressed. Chances are, you will instantly be dubbed “Master Knitter” by your friends and family members.
SAVE IT FOR LATER
This and 44 other in-depth tutorials are part of Knitting Collection #5.
