This cowl is ideal for people who are new to two-color brioche. It starts off with a provisional cast on and a two-color textured section before starting with the “intimidating” part. If you breathe deeply and take a little time, this might be just the project where you actually master it. With just a few stitches on the needles, every row goes by in a blur and before you know it you will be done. By the way, benri means “useful” in Japanese; I hope this cowl will be useful for you, too!

Yarn

MC: The Plucky Knitter Plucky Feet (4ply/Fingering weight; 90% merino, 10% nylon; 425 yds/389 m per 4 oz./115 g skein), 1 skein

CC: Quince & Co. Piper (Lace weight; 50% merino, 50% mohair; 305 yds/279 m per 50g skein), 1 skein

Needles

Size US 5/3.75mm circular needles, at least 24“ / 60cm long or needle size to obtain gauge

Notions

Short length of waste yarn (e.g. sock yarn) to cast on provisionally

Gauge

22 sts and 25 rows = 10cm in two-color brioche, unblocked

Finished size

55 ⅛” around by 6” wide / 140cm around by 15cm wide

Abbreviations

 

See our standard abbreviations.

brk – brioche knit; knit the stitch and its corresponding yo

brkyobrk – brioche knit, yo, brioche knit into the same st (2 sts increased)

brLsl dec – Left-slanting brioche decrease; slip the first stitch knitwise, brk the following two sts together, pass the slipped st over (2 sts decreased)

brp – brioche purl; purl the stitch and its corresponding yo

sl1yo – Slip one st purlwise while also making a yo. The st and its yo are treated as a single st

Cowl

CO 51 sts using a provisional cast on and MC. Join CC in Row 1.

Section 1: Textured Stitch

 

Row 1 (WS): Sl1, *k1 CC, put CC yarn to front of work, p1 MC, rep from * to last 2 sts, k1 CC, k1 MC.

Row 2 (RS): Sl1, *p1 CC, bring CC yarn to back of work, k1 MC, rep from * to last 2 sts, p1 CC, k1 MC.

 

Rep Rows 1 – 2 until work measures 4” / 10 cm.

Section 2: Two-color Brioche

Row 1 (RS): Using MC, sl1, *sl1yo, brk, rep from * to last st, k1.

Row 2 (RS): Using CC, sl1, *brp, sl1yo, rep from * to last 2 sts, brp, sl1.

Row 3 (WS): Using MC, sl1, *sl1yo, brp, rep from * to last st, k1.

Row 4 (WS): Using CC, sl1, *brk, sl1yo, rep from * to last 2 sts, brk, sl1.

 

Rep these four rows 11 more times or until work measures about 8” / 20 cm, unstretched and measured from CO.

Section 3: Wave Brioche

Next row (RS): Using MC, sl1, work 19 sts in established brioche patt, brkyobrk, work 15 sts in established brioche patt, brLsldec, work patt to last 2 sts, sl1yo, k1.

Rows 2-4: Work as Rows 2-4 above.

Row 5: Using MC, sl1, work 21 sts in patt, brkyobrk, work 13 sts in patt, brLsldec, work patt to last 2 sts, sl1yo, k1

Rows 6-8: Work as Rows 2-4 above.

Row 9: Using MC, sl1, work 23 sts in patt, brkyobrk, work 11 sts in patt, brLsldec, work patt to last 2 sts, sl1yo, k1

Rows 10-12: Work as Rows 2-4 above.

Row 13: Using MC, sl1, work 25 sts in patt, brkyobrk, work 9 sts in patt, brLsldec, work patt to last 2 sts, sl1yo, k1

Row 14-16: Work as Rows 2-4 above.

Row 17: Using MC, sl1, work 27 sts in patt, brkyobrk, work 7 sts in patt, brLsldec, work patt to last 2 sts, sl1yo, k1

Rows 18-20: Work as Rows 2-4 above.

 

Continue working 20 rows in brioche patt from setup.

 

Rep these 40 rows 8 more times. Work should measure about 39 ½”/100 cm.

Section 4: Two-color Brioche

Repeat Rows 1-4 as in Section 2 until work measures 47 ¼”/120 cm.

Finishing

Cut both yarns but leave a MC tail that is at least three times the length of your last row. Weave a thread of waste yarn through live sts and wet-block your piece. Note: You can also block your cowl after grafting but keep in mind that it will take longer to dry.

When it is fully dried, undo the provisional cast-on and put sts on your needle. There will only be 50 sts to pick up. Put live sts from section 4 on your needle as well and using the long tail from bind off, graft them together, remembering that a st and its yo are counted as a single st. Alternatively, use a three needle bind-off to join ends.