Knit one cute hat in brioche stitch

This past winter, knitnscribble wrote an article about the fantastic Baby Brioche cardigan knitting pattern by Jen Hurley. Having never knitted with the brioche stitch, was intrigued by the lofty result of the fabric, so decided to try it in an easy short cowl knitting pattern and was pleasantly surprised by the rhythm of the stitch and calming aesthetic while knitting brioche.

BriocheStitch.com offers very helpful instruction. The free pattern link below for the Brioche Hood cloche hat pictured here illustrates the stitch definition of this soothing exercise.


You can see the brioche stitch cowl in the header of this blog; it's the multicolor green one on the bottom.

This darling hat is knit from side to side on US size 6-7 (4-4.5mm) needles, depending on your yarn gauge and uses worsted or two strands of fingering yarn held together.

The Brioche stitch begins with an even number of stitches and one set up row, then multiples of just one row  as in this hat: k1 "yo, sl1(pwise), k2tog (next stitch with the yo from previous row)" (repeat "---") slipping the last stitch to make a nice crisp finished edge. The hat requires a short row approach for the top decreases. For more hat patterns, check out this previous knitnscribble post.

Exploring the fabrics that can be made with simple knitting stitches is another aspect of the craft, which only enhances the beautiful world of knitting. If you love brioche, this Honeycomb Brioche cowl pattern is for you and knits a lovely quick gift.

Short Brioche Cowl pattern:
Row 1(set-up row): K2, *yo,sl1, K1, repeat from* to last two stitches, K1, sl1.
Row 2: K2, *yo, Sl1, K2tog,repeat from* to last two sts, K1, Sl1.
Continue with Row 2 only for 22 inches. Finished width before blocking is about 14 inches.
BO with a very loose stitch: sl1, K1, psso, *P1, K2tog, pass P1 over K2tog decrease and repeat* to last 2 sts and BO. Block, then use the blanket stitch to sew the ends together for completed cowl.


The Brioche Hood cloche hat pattern is written by Valdis Vrang and is available free on Ravelry.

Here's the free pattern link for Baby Brioche Cardigan Sweater knit from the top down.