Ch. 1 Basic One-Color Brioche Stitch
This is the simplest form of brioche stitch. Grab just one color of yarn for now and both large and small straight needles.
How to Do Basic One-Color Brioche Stitch
Here is an in-depth video on how to do the basic brioche stitch.
Brioche stitch is a two-layered fabric that looks somewhat like ribbing, although it is constructed differently.
Like ribbing, it is reversible and can be used to make all types of garments, with cables, increases, decreases, and color-patterns.
Like double-knitting, brioche has two right-sides, but unlike double-knitting, the two sides are knitted one after the other, instead of all in the same row.
Brioche stitch can be done with one, two, or as many as five or six colors, and incorporate Intarsia color-blocks, just like regular knitting.
Abbreviations
As I explain in the below video, certain abbreviations are used in brioche knitting. The ones used here are:
- Yf sl1yo – move the yarn to the front of the work, slip the next stitch, yo
- Br-k – brioche-knit: knit the next stitch together with the wrap that accompanies it
Here are the written instructions for what we are knitting in the video:
Flat Brioche Over An Even Number Of Stitches
With larger needles, CO 12 sts.
With smaller needles, work as follows:
Set-up Row: *Yf sl1yo, k1; rep from * across.
Row 1: With smaller needles, *yf sl1yo, br-k1; rep from * across.
Repeat Row 1 until you are ready to bind off.
How to Read Your Work in Brioche Knitting
Brioche stitch is quite easy to get the hang of once you can recognize where you are and what to do.
This next video show you how to read your work, so that you can work one-color brioche stitch without thinking too hard.
I’ll also show you how to avoid the most common mistakes that can happen while knitting brioche.
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Count Stitches and Rows in Brioche Knitting
Brioche fabric is made by working half of the stitches in each row first, and the other half second.
This creates the double-layered fabric that is the hallmark of brioche knitting.
Let’s take a look at our swatch and examine the two layers, as well as understand how to count your stitches and rows in brioche stitch.
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Binding Off on Brioche Knitting
There are a few different ways to bind off in brioche.
The important things to try to achieve in a bind-off on a brioche project is that it matches the cast-on nicely and is very stretchy.
Setup for a Standard Bind-Off
For a standard bind-off or any of the stretchy sewn or not-sewn bind-offs, you’ll want to set up your stitches with one row of br-k, p1 rib, on the larger needles.
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Stretchy Yarnover Bind-Off
You can then bind off the swatch with a conventional bind-off, use the easy Yarnover Bind-Off below, or try Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off, which is, of course, stretchy, and matches a traditional cast-on edge nicely.
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Abbreviations:
- Po – pass stitch over
Instructions
With larger needles, yo, k1, po, *yo, k1, po, po, rep from * to end.
Weaving in Ends on Brioche
Weaving in your tails is really easy on Brioche, because the yarnovers leave convenient little vertical pockets that you can tuck your tails into. Here’s how it works:
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