If you’ve ever worked in brioche stitch (also known as English rib), you know that it is a fairly easy stitch pattern as long as we understand the logic behind it.
And that logic is simple – basically, we work in a version of a “knit 1, purl 1” ribbing, but we treat yarn over + stitch as one stitch and knit or purl them together depending on the row. The “empty stitch” (stitch without a yarn over) gets a yarn over and gets slipped.
When we work in two colours, there is one more thing to remember – we alternate colours in every row. If one row is worked with colour A, the next row should be worked with colour B.
To change colours in every row worked back and forth, we have to slide the stitches to the other tip of the needle every now and then..
But when we work in the round, both yarn strands meet at the beginning of each round, and we can pick the strand we need without sliding the stitches.
That makes two colour brioche worked in the round even easier than brioche worked flat.
Too good to be true? Well, let’s make a swatch and see for ourselves
As usual, you can watch every step explained below in a video tutorial:
Cast on an even number of stitches using any cast on that creates a firm edge. Brioche stitch is puffy and gets absolutely unruly when the edge is too loose.
Use one of the two colours you plan to use for the project. Usually, the project looks better when the cast on and bind off edges are made with a darker colour. No matter which colour you choose, it will be colour A.
Feel free to use any kind of needle set up that allows us to work in the round – one short circular needle, two short circular needles, one long circular needle used with the magic loop, or “good old” double pointed needles.
I’ll use my favourite magic loop method and one long circular needle. To make this swatch I cast on 16 stitches using the long-tail cast on.
Arrange the stitches for working in the round. Depending on your preferred way to work in the round, spread the stitches on one short circular needle, split them in half between two short circular needles, split them in half on a cable of one long circular needle or distribute them evenly between double pointed needles.
Make sure the stitches are not twisted around the needle and join them for working in the round. I used way #2 explained in this tutorial to join stitches in my swatch.
A few quick notes before we get started:
a) Whenever the pattern tells us to “slip 1”, we’ll slip one stitch purlwise (insert the tip of the right needle into that stitch from right to left) with the yarn at the back of the work.
b) If you use two short circular needles, one long circular needle (with the magic loop technique) or double pointed needles, be careful not to lose a yarn over created at the end of one group of stitches when you reshuffle needles to work on the next group of stitches.
ROUND 1 – SET UP ROUND
Attach the yarn in colour B and use it to work this round as follows:
[ knit 1, make a yarn over and slip 1 with the yarn at the back of the work ], repeat the brackets to the end of the round. Be careful not to lose the last yarn over!
ROUND 2
Twist the strands, then pick the strand in colour A and use it to work this round as follows:
[ make a yarn over + slip 1 stitch, then purl together the yarn over made in the previous round + the stitch paired with that yarn over ], repeat the brackets to the end of the round.
ROUND 3
Place the strand in colour A to the right without twisting it with the strand in colour B, then pick up the strand in colour B, pull it a bit to tighten the last yarn over of the previous round worked with colour B, and use that strand to work this round as follows:
[ knit the yarn over + stitch together, make a yarn over + slip 1 ], repeat the brackets to the end of the round. Be careful not to lose the last yarn over!
Repeat rounds 2 and 3, and you will see that the pattern forms lovely chains of stitches in colour A on one side of the work, and the same chains of stitches in colour B on the other side of the work.
When you are ready to bind off stitches, work to the round that should be worked in the colour you used to cast on stitches. In my case, it will be a darker shade of blue.
Then bind off stitches in pattern (knit the knits and purl the purls), but treat the yarn over + stitch as one stitch and don’t make any yarn overs in front of the “empty” stitches. Secure the yarn and hide the tails.
This pattern is basically a recipe for a quick cowl that you can whip up using any yarn in two colours. You can even use up odd balls of yarn that you have in your stash, just make sure the colours look nice together.
SAVE IT FOR LATER:
This and 41 other in-depth tutorials are part of Knitting Collection #6.
