Two-Color Brioche in the Round

Brioche knitting is a fun technique that creates a squishy and reversible fabric. When worked in two colors, one color will be dominant on one side of the fabric, with the second color being dominant on the reverse side. Brioche knitting can be used to make just about anything in knitting, and it’s fairly simple to work once you’ve mastered the basics. In this video, brioche knitting expert Mary Beth Temple kicks it up a notch and shows you how to work two-color brioche in the round.

Like any brioche knitting project, it’s important to start with a loose cast on. For this demonstration, Mary Beth casts on to a knitting needle that is a few sizes larger than her project needle. Once the stitches are cast on to the larger needle, she slips the stitches purlwise onto the project needle.

With an even number of stitches cast on in Color A, Mary Beth places a stitch marker to mark the beginning of the round and joins to work in the round, being careful not to twist. She then works this two-color basic brioche pattern in the round as follows:

Set Up Round: With Color A *k1, yarn forward, sl1yo; rep from * to end of round.

Round 1: With Color B, yarn forward *sl1yo, brp; rep from * to end of round.
Round 2: With Color A, *brk, yarn forward, sl1yo; rep from * to end of round.

Repeat Rounds 1 & 2 for pattern.

To work the brk (brioche knit) stitch, Mary Beth knits the slipped stitch together with its paired yarn over. Likewise, to work the brp (brioche purl) stitch, she purls the slipped stitch together with its paired yarn over. Once a few rounds are complete, the pattern really starts to take shape and it becomes much easier to read the fabric.

What kind of two-color brioche projects do you like to make?