Brioche Knitting for Beginners - Two Color Brioche Stitch

If you're tired of watching two color brioche knitting tutorials and getting more and more confused with each one, settle in. This should be the last two color brioche tutorial you'll need to watch. I'll walk you through the setup, the repeat, the bind off, and more importantly, share a few tips that helped me work this pattern without actually having the pattern in front of me at all. If you're familiar with single color brioche, you're already a leg up. The repeat there is very similar to this one, and knowing that first will really help. I believe this so much that if you haven't already tried single color brioche, I'd urge you to try that first. I have a tutorial for that as well, and I'll have it linked in the description. To practice two color brioche and work a little swatch, you'll need a pair of double pointed needles, and to work a project, you'll need a pair of circular needles. Not because you'll be working in the round. In fact, this is flat knitting brioche, so we're working a square or a flat piece. So first things first, decide which color you want to be the main color and which color you want to be the contrast color. Then label that in your mind, commit it to memory, and as tempting as it is to dive into a full project, I'm going to encourage you to start really small and work a little swatch with me. Cast on 10 stitches using your favorite cast on method. I'm just working the long tail cast on here, and yes, the multiple for when you do decide to work a project with this stitch is an even number. Flip it, and you'll continue working with the main color. So knit the first stitch, and the repeat begins here. Knit the next stitch, pull the yarn forward, and slip the next stitch purlwise, and repeat. Knit, keeping the yarn where it is, which will create a funny looking stitch. That's normal. Pull the yarn forward, slip the next stitch purlwise, and when you get to the end of the row, no matter how many stitches you have, you'll knit the last stitch with the yarn forward like this. So this is the first of two setup rows. Before we get to the actual stitch repeat, and it should look something like this, where you have a single loop and then that funny looking stitch. Next we get to add the contrast color, so have that ready, and you won't flip your work yet, okay? Instead, slide the stitches to the other end of the needle. Now we'll knit the first stitch here, so get that set up, loop the contrast color yarn on the needle, and pull it through. It'll be a little loose at first, but that's totally fine. Then pull the yarn forward, and slip the next stitch purlwise. Now here's a new one. Yarn over, so the yarn is around the needle, and coming in between them. Then you'll brioche purl, B-R-P. Insert the needle in both of those, and purl like if it were one. Keep the yarn forward, and slip the next stitch, yarn over, and brioche purl. And that's the repeat. So notice I'm catching both loops in that stitch to brioche purl. That's something you should get pretty familiar with as you work this stitch. When you get to the end of the row, pull the yarn to the back, and knit the last stitch. Now it doesn't look like much, but that's both setup rows, and you'll work both of these anytime you start a two-color brioche project. Now take a little peek at your stitches here. Each of your brioche stitches should have a main color and a contrast color loop, and the working yarn for both colors should be at the same end. Now since both working yarns are on the same side, you can flip the work, and we're moving on to row three. Now whenever you flip the work, you'll always pick up and work the next row with your main color. That's why it's so important for you to memorize which is your main color, and which is your contrast color. So in that case, this is the white yarn for me. You'll knit the first stitch, pull the yarn forward, and slip the next stitch purlwise. Yarn over, and brioche purl. And repeat. Now if this feels familiar, it's for good reason. This is how row two has just worked, so you already have seen all of this before. Now once again at the end of the row, you'll pull the yarn back and knit the last stitch. Now you may have to pull that main color working yarn a little bit to tighten it up. That's totally fine. And now you can see our working yarns are at opposite ends. Whenever that happens, you have to slide the stitches to the other end of Now with the contrast color, you'll knit the first stitch. And this is different now. You have a brioche stitch here next, so just knit it. Then pull the yarn forward, slip the next stitch purlwise, and with the yarn forward, brioche knit. And repeat. Now if this feels familiar, it's because we worked this in the first row, but it looks and feels a little bit different here, a little further in the repeat. And also, if you've worked single color brioche before, this should feel very familiar. This is pretty much the same repeat. Now both working yarns are at the same end, which means we can turn the work. And because we just turned, remember, that means we'll work the next row with knit the first stitch, and brioche knit. Pull the yarn forward, and slip the next stitch purlwise, and repeat. So basically, we're just doing what we did in the last row. All right, now working yarns are at opposite ends, and you know what that means. Slide them to the other side, pick up the contrast color, knit the first stitch. Then pull the yarn forward, slip the next stitch purlwise, yarn over, and brioche purl. And repeat. Pull the yarn to the back, and knit the last stitch. All right, so at this point, it doesn't look like much. In fact, it looks really messy. Don't worry, it's not you, and it's not your tension. The stitch really just needs a little more length for it to really start looking great. From here, and to add more length to your swatch, repeat rows three through six. So flip the work, and work the third row. Slide the stitches over, and work the fourth row. Flip the work, and work the fifth row. Slide the stitches over, and work the sixth row. Now, it's starting to look a little more acceptable. Now, when I was in your shoes at this point, I figured I might as well glue the instructions to my forehead, because it's a little bit easier to see what's going on. So I'm just going to the repeat doesn't make any sense at all. But would you believe me if I told you I knit this entire swatch without looking at the instructions once? So in this section, I want to share some tips that'll help you do the same. Instead of memorizing the instructions, you can memorize cues that tell you what to do next. Here's the first thing. When you flip the work, you'll always use the main color first, which in the case of this little piece is the taupe color. Second, you'll always knit the first stitch of every row. And when you see just a single loop like this, this is your slipped stitch, you should always pull the yarn forward and slip it purlwise. Now here's the good part. When you have a brioche stitch, and it's in the indented section like this, you'll always yarn over and brioche purl. So when you're working a brioche purl row like this, your slipped stitches should line up with the little braid and the brioche stitches will always line in the indented section. This, by the way, is a third row in case you were trying to figure that out. The next important cue for you to start recognizing as you practice this stitch is if at the end of a row your working yarns are at opposite ends, you'll slide the work to the other needle. Now remember, the first stitch is always a knit. And when the next stitch is a brioche stitch, you'll brioche knit. Always. So in this case, where the repeat involves BRKs, the braid is lined up with the brioche stitches, and the slipped stitches are lined up with the indents. And another thing to make sure you're on track is to look at your brioche stitches. They should always have one strand of each color. And one more thing we haven't directly talked about yet is the repeat itself. Sure, it's rows three through six, but when you get down to it and you're working through that repeat, it has four rows, right? But another thing you'll recognize is that you work two rows with BRPs, and that's always followed by two rows with BRKs. Now if at this point you're still scratching your head or doubting yourself at all, that's completely justified. This isn't an easy stitch to wrap your head around at first, but it is a completely doable stitch. I remember watching tutorial after tutorial when I was finally ready to learn this stitch, and I got more and more frustrated and confused when I found that every one was a little bit different. If you haven't already, you'll find that to be the case. There is more than one way to achieve this look, but this way was the easiest for me. All you need is practice. Which brings me back to my point about making a tiny swatch first. Trust me, do yourself a favor and work all the kinks out on a 10 stitch swatch. That way you'll get the practice you need without investing a ton of time into it. It's incredibly frustrating to learn a stitch like this in a project, get a few hours in, and then have to frog the entire thing or part of it when something goes wrong. All right, I'm off my soapbox now, and back to my tiny swatch for the bind off. You'll want to start the bind off on a fifth row, the one where both yarns are at the same end, and you're ready to work a BRK row. And if you're familiar with my single color brioche tutorial, the bind off is exactly the same. You can cut the contrast yarn, you won't need that anymore, then knit the first stitch and BRK, then pass the first loop over the last. Now you'll purl the next stitch, so pull the yarn forward and pass the first loop over the last. BRK, pass it over. One more important thing I want to note here is that this is for knitting flat pieces. Things are a little different with two color brioche in the round, and if that tutorial sounds like something you'd like to see, hit the like button on this video and that'll tell me it's something you want. And who knows, if we get a ton of likes, I'll definitely make that tutorial for you. Two color brioche is one of the most delightful fabrics to squish. It's incredibly stretchy, it's reversible in the neatest way, and perfect for projects like scarves and garments. Now if this seems like a little too much to handle right now, do check out this tutorial here. Mastering single color brioche with a project like this is a great way to build confidence for two color brioche. And if you still need a yarn fix, check out the other video here too. Happy knitting, and I'll see you in the next one!