How To Knit: Circular Two-Color Brioche | Brooklyn Tweed

Deepen your knitting repertoire with the stretchy and stunning brioche stitch worked in two colors. It isn’t as hard as you think! This traditional technique consists of slipped stitches, work 2-togethers and yarn overs to create a springy double-sided fabric that is fully reversible. Learn how to work this deceptively simple stitch with this straight-forward circular method. This step-by-step tutorial will teach you how to use two colors of yarn to work brioche, opening up a world of possibilities in your knitting.
Steps:
3:31 Cast on with Color 1 and join to work in the round.
4:01 Setup Round (Color 2): Join in Color 2, *Sl-YO, purl 1; repeat from * to end.
7:11 Brioche Round 1 (Color 1): *BRK, bring yarn to front, Sl-YO; repeat from * to end.
9:35 Brioche Round 2 (Color 2): *With yarn in front, Sl-YO, BRP; repeat from * to end.
BRK: Brioche Knit
Knit the next stitch together with its corresponding yarn over from the previous row.
BRP: Brioche Purl
Purl the next stitch together with its corresponding yarn over from the previous row.
Sl-YO: Slip 1 with Yarn Over
Bring the working yarn under the needle to the front of the work, slip the next stitch from the L needle to the R needle as if to purl, then bring the yarn over the needle to the back (creating a yarn over on top of the slipped stitch); bring yarn into position to work the following stitch (in back for a knit, in front for a purl). This slipped stitch/yarn over pair is considered one stitch.
Related videos:
How To Knit: Single Color Flat Brioche: • How To Knit: Single Co...
How To Knit: One-Color Brioche in the Round: • How To Knit: One Color...
How To Knit: Brioche Shaping: • How To Knit: Shaping i...
See our How-To playlist for more technique videos: bit.ly/3ipXq4g
Visit our Resources page for more knitting tips: brooklyntweed.com/pages/resou...
Featured Yarn: Quarry in Citrine and Granite
Shop: brooklyntweed.com/products/qu...
If you found this tutorial helpful, we’d love your support! Shop our breed-specific American wool yarns & thoughtfully designed patterns at BrooklynTweed.com.
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[@nicolestrahm3013]

This tutorial is perfect! Clear, concise, and even sharing the lifeline technique since Brioche can be so troublesome with mistakes. Love, love, love! Thank you Brooklyn Tweed!

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

You are so welcome! Happy brioche-ing!

[@alexjames_fiber]

thank you! I've watched 5 other videos but yours is the only one that made sense! Very excited for my brioche hat now

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Thanks for watching! We're here if you need any brioche help!

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

Thank you so much for the dental floss tip for lifelines using circular needles with interchangeable tips. I’m an avid lace knitter and lifelines are what preserves py sanity, especially when using yarns that are a pain to frog back on (mohair blends for example). Dropping a stitch can really ruin my day unless I’ve got a lifeline for damage control. With complicated patterns I insert a lifeline at each pattern repeat. For wider pieces that can take a long time. I’m definitely going to try this trick because it would be “life lining as you go”. What a game changer! Thank you as well for this very clear explanation on brioche knitting in the round. I’ve seen a brioche pattern I like a lot and was wondering how it would work in the round or even in a moebius pattern. Your video provided a lot of answers. 😊

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

So glad we could help! Yes, being able to carry your lifeline along is SO handy!

[@beckipersons5689]

Great video! Pacing was perfect and I finally understand how to do the stitch.

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@fewofmyfavoritethings]

Amazing video with clear explanation and trouble shooting! Thanks so much

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

You're so welcome! Thanks for watching!

[@micheledoehring5471]

This video helped so much. Showing what the stitches did and explaining the visual clues made all the difference for me. Brioche hats for everyone this Christmas. Thank you!

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Othehughmanatee]

Thanks so much for this! Very helpful. Being relatively new to interchangeable needles, I absolutely love that lifeline trick!!!

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

You are so welcome! Happy knitting!

[@susanz4627]

Clear and precise. Thank you!

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@judefoster7737]

Love your videos Jarod. So clear and well lit

[@HarrietDickerson]

Excellent video. Thank you!

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kathyo1811]

Thank you for a very helpful tutorial.

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

You're very welcome - thank you for watching!

[@catherinecunningham7126]

Thank you, you’re a great instructor!

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

You're very welcome!

[@redredwine1277]

Well explained and illustrated, thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas 🎄🎄🎄

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Glad it was helpful! Happy knitting & holidays!

[@amyjohnson2203]

Thank you! Great explanation and demo.

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Glad it was helpful!

[@dustytoes100]

Wonderful information especially for that end of round loose yarn. I need help with joining a brioche friendly cast on in the round!

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Thanks for watching! That's a great idea for another tutorial, we'll add that to our list!

[@user-hr5cd9qj1s]

Might be useful for two colour CIRCULAR brioche: to avoid rows of purling you can do them in the other direction as knit ones. In other words: when you have completed a knit sub-row (in yellow in this video), turn the piece inside out, pick the other yarn (the grey one) and *knit* the other sub-row. If you're knitting a piece with decreases, eventually, it will get impossible to turn the piece inside our (the opening will get too small). Then you carry on the same way, just knit the other sub-rows from inside (slightly awkward). UPD. This is discussed in an earlier post by Franca G.

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Love this!

[@user-hr5cd9qj1s]

@@BrooklynTweed_Official Another benefit of this method is that you notice errors (basically, dropped yarn-overs) much sooner since there is no NO back side you seldom look at. UPD. I would suggest you dedicate a video to correcting errors in brioche knitting. The easiest way is with a crochet hook.

[@drea3556]

Totally love Brioche. I find as a Continental knitter its a bit easier as to slip and YO. I also find it strange or have a confusion as to why your patterns dont use the slip yo but use the yf terminology. I like how Nancy Marchant terms it just curious why your terming is a bit different.

[@tc6758]

Thank you so much for this! I was totally flumuxed. I'm a pretty advanced knitter but I couldn't get my head round the logic of brioche. When I watched your video I was - oh that's easy! It was a real penny dropping moment. It would be cool if you could give us hints and tips on the end of the row stuff again. That seems to be the tricky bit ie joining in the round and then the loose YO etc. Could you give us some hints on how to make it nice and tight and smooth for eg a hat like you have here. Thank you for your video.

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Thanks for watching! Mary, our pattern support specialist, says all you need to do is to give your yarn a gentle tug at the join! Happy knitting!

[@louisesmith84]

That yellow yarn looks positively pea green to me and the orange stitch marker looks a solid yellow. Am I color blind?! Great video though!

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Thanks for watching! Yes, looks like the color on this video came out a little cool-toned :)

[@Natalie-hg3gh]

What kind of cast on did you do here? I tried the two color cast on and love it too, but I'm interested in this single color one!

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Hi Natalie! That's our Italian tubular cast-on, shown here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3bFdGBoeJqXhZI Happy knitting!

[@nancymahala6754]

so I must have missed the set up row instructions somewhere. I cannot figure out how to do this technique if you are starting in the middle of it.

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Hi Nancy! The setup instructions start at 3:31 I've just timestamped all of the instructions in the description to make them easier to find.

[@gailflitcraft6813]

I love the pattern for the single color brioche hat! What is the name of that pattern and what yarn did you use?

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Thank you for your comment! The hat is from an upcoming BT pattern, and is knit in Quarry.

[@gailflitcraft6813]

Brooklyn Tweed, I will be looking forward to the release of that pattern! Quarry is a nice chunky yarn and available at MLYS!

[@cathysvehlak4605]

Good morning! What cast on do you suggest should be used for a hat when knitting brioche? Thanks!! 😊

[@janievalgunn]

They also posted a video for Italian Tubular cast on (one video for one colour and another for two colours) it’s what is recommended for brioche

[@cathysvehlak4605]

Jane Gunn Thank you! I’ll go check it out.

[@francag.3422]

Why don't you knit the second color from the inside --> the other direction? No need to change the purls and knits, no spiralling and there is no join. Just keep the working color at the top when crossing/changing to it. Greetings from Germany from an italiean knitter

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

That's a great idea, we'll try it out!

[@ronja5174]

Has anyone else actually tried this & got a video link? Sounds like such a good idea, almost obvious, yet I can't seem to find anyone online doing it! Recommendations welcome!

[@user-hr5cd9qj1s]

​​​@@ronja5174 In my very first brioche cap, being hopeless at purling & having struggled with a few purl rows, I came to the invention in question. Now I even do the preparatory row as a knit one. The method involves turning the piece inside out after every sub-row.

[@Natalie-hg3gh]

If I did the two color cast on do I still need to do the set up round?

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Hi Natalie! Yes, you'll need to work the setup round before starting into your brioche rounds, whether you are working one or two-color brioche. (That will be nice with a two-color cast on!) Happy knitting!

[@cherylelinsmith743]

I noticed your not knitting on 16 inch needles. I thought when knitting in the round like say size 10 or 13 it would be 16 inch. All the cowls I’ve knitted were done on 16 inch. I just did a Purl Soho cowl calling for size 13 16 inch needles with cast on 44 stitches. Same with hat patterns.

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Jared is using the Magic Loop technique with 32" needles here - very handy for small-diameter knitting!

[@nancywhitmore1035]

I know this is a year old. I am just starting the Skipp hat and I don't understand how you join the round, at the beginning.

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Hi Nancy! Great question - there are probably as many ways of joining to work in the round as there are knitters! Some folks like to cross their first and last cast on stitches over each other, some folks don't do anything special and just knit the first stitch, some folks work the first few rows flat and then join (as one would for the Italian tubular cast on) - it's really whatever works best for you! Modern Daily Knitting has some good info here: www.moderndailyknitting.com/2018/12/03/techniques-in-depth-joining-in-the-round/ Happy knitting!

[@laurentdumont160]

Bonjour. How many stich on a circular needle to make un passe montagne( hood) foulard for adult. Merci

[@BrooklynTweed_Official]

Bonjour, Johanne! It will depend on the weight of yarn and needle size that you are using - here we are using a chunky yarn on US 10/6 mm needles and casting on 60 stitches.

[@laurentdumont160]

@@BrooklynTweed_Official merci beaucoup !