Gina's Brioche Hat and Cowl
This New Year's one of our trusty shop employees, Thomas, was commissioned to make a pink cashmere version of Gina's Brioche Cowl. Thomas happily took the gig, excited to work up the Jade Sapphire yarns in such a stunning pattern. See the results! Isn't it electric? The materials used for this new pink version of the cowl are listed below.
Materials for the Pink Version!
- 2 skeins of Jade Sapphire's 6-ply Cashmere (100% Mongolian Cashmere, 150 yards) in Ivory
- 3 skeins of Jade Sapphire's 8-ply Cashmere (100% Mongolian Cashmere, 100 yards) in Pink Panther
- A US #6, 32 inch circular needle
Like all members of the Purl family, I live in a world where color rules. If you shop at our store in Soho, you've probably seen me restocking shelves and cutting fabric. I'm the one wearing a colorful dress (that I made myself, most likely out of lovely Liberty of London!) and the reddest red lipstick. In my view, nothing perks up a gray day more than a brightly hued ensemble. Top it all off with a handknit scarf or hat, and I'm happy!
But in all that colorific bliss hides a small problem. How to limit myself to just one color, especially when I'm surrounded by a veritable rainbow of temptation all day! Luckily, I recently discovered the Brioche Stitch. Brioche knitting is a simple multicolor technique that creates a beautiful fabric of ridges and valleys. The color play of fair isle or intarsia without the bother of tangled balls of yarn and pesky tails? Yes, please! And better still, Brioche fabric is truly as lofty and luxurious as its namesake, the light and buttery brioche bun, making it just right for cozy cold weather accessories. I'm completely obsessed!
For my perfectly simple Brioche Hat and Cowl, I chose Manos Del Uruguay's Maxima and Blue Sky's Suri Merino. I love how the vivid intensity of Maxima peeks out from between the soft, fuzzy clouds of Suri. A two color project that's twice as nice!
The Materials: Brioche Hat
- 1 skein of Manos Del Uruguay's Maxima (100% Extra Fine Merino Wool; 219 yards). This color is Highlighter. (If you are making both the Brioche Hat and Cowl, you will need 2 skeins of the Maxima, total.)
- 1 skein of Blue Sky Alpaca's Suri Merino (60% Baby Suri, 40% Merino; 164 yards). This color is Snow. (If you are making both the Brioche Hat and Cowl, you will need 3 skeins of the Suri Merino, total.)
- A US #5, 16 inch circular needle.
- A set of US #5 double pointed needles.
The Pattern: Brioche Hat
Guage
20 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in pattern stitch
Finished Measurements
9 1/2 inch tall by 20 inch circumference
Pattern Notes
- For "Yarn A", I used the Highlighter color of Maxima, and for "Yarn B", I used the Snow colored Suri Merino.
- After working a round with Yarn A, leave yarn hanging at front of work. After working a round with Yarn B, leave yarn hanging at the back of work.
- How to Yarn Over Slip or YOS: Bring yarn to front of work, slip one as if to purl, carry yarn to back of work over right needle.
- When decreasing to shape the crown of the hat you will have to k3tog, which means to knit the next 3 stitches together, not counting yarn overs as stitches.
Begin
Using Yarn B, loosely cast on 88 stitches.
Place a marker and join for working in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.
Knit 5 rounds.
Join Yarn A to begin working in two color Brioche stitch.
Brioche Stitch
Start with Yarn A, leaving yarn B hanging in back of work.
Round 1A (Using Yarn A): *YOS (see Pattern Notes), p1, repeat from * to end of round.
Leaving yarn A hanging at front of work, continue working in yarn B.
Round 1B (Using Yarn B): *K2tog (yarn over from previous round + following stitch), YOS, repeat from * to end of round
Leaving Yarn B hanging at back of work, continue working with Yarn A.
Round 2A (Using Yarn A): *YOS, p2tog (yarn over from previous round + next stitch), repeat from * to end of round. Leave yarn A in front of work.
Round 2B (Using yarn B): *K2tog (yarn over from previous round + following stitch), YOS, repeat from * to end of round. Leave Yarn B in back of work.
Repeat Rounds 2A and 2B until work measures 6 3/4 inches from the rolled edge, ending with Round 2A.
Shape Crown
Transfer stitches to double pointed needles when work becomes too narrow to fit on circular needle.
Decrease Round: With Yarn B, work 9 stitches in established pattern, K3tog, [work 19 stitches, k3tog] three times, work to end of round. (80 stitches)
Repeat Round 2A and 2B one time.
Decrease Round: With Yarn A, work 8 stitches, K3tog, [work 17 stitches, k3tog] three times, work to end of round. (72 stitches)
Repeat Rounds 2B and 2A one time.
Decrease Round: With Yarn B, work 7 stitches, K3tog, [work 15 stitches, k3tog] three times, work to end of round. (64 stitches)
Repeat Round 2A and 2B one time.
Decrease Round: With Yarn A, work 6 stitches, K3tog, [work 13 stitches, k3tog] three times, work to end of round. (56 stitches)
Repeat Rounds 2B and 2A one time.
Decrease Round: With Yarn B, work 5 stitches, K3tog, [work 11 stitches, k3tog] three times, work to end of round. (48 stitches)
Repeat Round 2A and 2B one time.
Decrease Round: With Yarn A, work 4 stitches, K3tog, [work 9 stitches, k3tog] three times, work to end of round. (40 stitches)
Repeat Rounds 2B and 2A one time.
Decrease Round: With Yarn B, work 3 stitches, K3tog, [work 7 stitches, k3tog] three times, work to end of round. (32 stitches)
Repeat Round 2A and 2B one time.
Decrease Round: With Yarn A, work 2 stitches, K3tog, [work 5 stitches, k3tog] three times, work to end of round. (24 stitches)
Repeat Rounds 2B and 2A one time.
Decrease Round: With Yarn B, work 1 stitch, K3tog, [work 3 stitches, k3tog] three times, work to end of round. (16 stitches)
Repeat Round 2A and 2B one time.
Decrease Round: With Yarn A, K3tog, [work 1 stitch, k3tog] three times, work to end of round. (8 stitches)
Cut Yarn A. Continue with Yarn B.
Next round: [k2tog] 4 times.
Transfer four remaining stitches to one double pointed needle. Work 5 rows in I-cord. To bind off, cut yarn and pull tail through stitches. Using a tapestry needle, bring tail through center of I-cord to inside of hat.
Weave in your ends. Block gently.
The Materials: Brioche Cowl
- 2 skeins of Manos Del Uruguay's Maxima (100% Extra Fine Merino Wool; 219 yards). This color is Highlighter. (If you are making both the Brioche Hat and Cowl, you will need 2 skeins of the Maxima, total.)
- 2 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca's Suri Merino (60% Baby Suri, 40% Merino; 164 yards). This color is Snow. (If you are making both the Brioch Hat and Cowl, you will need 3 skeins of the Suri Merino, total.)
- A US #6, 32 inch circular needle.
The Pattern: Brioche Cowl
Guage
18 stitches and 25 rows = 4 inches in pattern stitch
Finished Measurements
56 inch circumstance by 10 1/4 inches wide, un-stretched
Pattern Notes
- For "Yarn A", I used the Highlighter color of Maxima, and for "Yarn B", I used the Snow colored Suri Merino.
- After working a round with Yarn A, leave yarn hanging at front of work. After working a round with Yarn B, leave yarn hanging at the back of work.
- How to Yarn Over Slip or YOS: Bring yarn to front of work, slip one as if to purl, carry yarn to back of work over right needle.
Begin
Using Yarn B, loosely cast on 218 stitches.
Place marker and join for working in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.
Knit 5 rounds.
Join Yarn A to begin working in two color Brioche stitch.
Brioche Stitch
Start with Yarn A, leaving yarn B hanging in back of work.
Round 1A (Using Yarn A): *YOS (see Pattern Notes), p1, repeat from * to end of round.
Leaving yarn A hanging at front of work, continue working in yarn B.
Round 1B (Using Yarn B): *K2tog (yarn over from previous round + following stitch), YOS, repeat from * to end of round
Leaving Yarn B hanging at back of work, continue working with Yarn A.
Round 2A (Using Yarn A): *YOS, p2tog (yarn over from previous round + following stitch), repeat from * to end of round. Leave yarn A in front of work.
Round 2B (Using yarn B): *K2tog (yarn over from previous round + following stitch), YOS, repeat from * to end of round. Leave Yarn B in back of work.
Repeat Rounds 2A and 2B until work measures 9 3/4 inches from the rolled edge, ending with Round 2A.
Cut Yarn A and continue working with Yarn B.
With Yarn B, Knit 5 rounds.
Bind off loosely.
Weave in your ends. Block gently.
October 16, 2011
Reader Comments (9)
I'm really struggling with the decrease rows. From counting the stitches I assume that the instructions ignore the yarnovers. But when I knitted three together (with a yarnover included as it was between say the second and third stitch) it created a big hole and a lot of mess. Then the following rows made no sense in trying to get back to the pattern.
I pulled out and tried again thinking that K3tog might be including the yarnover, this is neater and easier to pick up on the second row - but I realized that the counting isn't right as this will only decrease by four stitches per row not 8.
HELP!!!
I can't tell from the pictures what is correct.
Thanks.
1) what to do on the row after the decrease? you have three yarn b stitches next to each other. What do you do with the middle one? the ones before and after are still in pattern, but how to treat the middle one?
2) the bigger problem is on the yarn A decrease row and following row. In the decrease row it's awkward going from the purl to k3tog. do you go round or over needle? and then same question as 1 above for the row following.
thanks for the help! I don't know why I'm struggling so much with this but it's frustrating to be so near the end and unable to get there!
The pattern for the edging is the same as what is pictured, a 5 row garter stitch edge. It almost looks like an i-cord in the picture so I can see the confusion but the pattern is correct.
Thanks for the question!
Molly
We are so sorry to hear that you are having trouble with this pattern! Unfortunately we don't have the capacity to record videos for out patterns at this time but it is something that we would like to do in the future.
If you let us know what specifically you're having trouble with we would be happy to try to help you here. Or you could also call our NYC store at 212-420-8796 if you'd like to talk to someone. If you're in the NYC area we are always happy to help you in person as well. If you have a local yarn store by you they might be able to help too.
Thank you!
Molly