Brioche knitting is a current “it knit,” and there are so many ways to play with it, once you understand the basic brioche rib stitch. We’ll review basic brioche rib, learn an increase and 2 decreases, while practicing the whale tail motif, and then learn to syncopate (swap dominant color with background color). Voilà, it’s a gauge swatch, and now we cast on for the real deal!

Technique Requirements: knit/purl, cast on/bind off, Know how to knit 2 color brioche rib (brk, sl1yo, brp)

With MC, cast on 31 sts. (MC is the color of your whale tail motif; CC is background)
Setup Row (MC) (WS): *P1, sl1yo, rep from * to last st, p1. Slide back to beginning of row.
Setup Row (CC) (WS): Sl1, add new yarn, *brk, sl1yo; rep from * to last 2 sts, brk, Sl1 wyif. Turn.

Brioche Rib:
Row 1 (MC) (RS): K1; *sl1yo, brk; rep from * to last 2 sts, sl1yo, k1. Slide back to beginning of row.
Row 1 (CC) (RS): Sl1 wyib, move yarn to front; *brp, sl1yo; rep from * to last 2 sts, brp, move yarn to back, sl1 wyib. Turn.
Row 2 (MC) (WS): P1; *sl1yo, brp; rep from * to last 2 sts, sl1yo, p1. Slide back to beginning of row.
Row 2 (CC) (WS): Sl1 wyif, move yarn to back; *brk, sl1yo; rep from * to last 2 sts, brk, move yarn to front, sl1 wyif. Turn.
That’s it! If you’d like, you can repeat these 2 rows (4 half rows) until you’re comfortable. End with Row 2 CC.

Two contrasting colors DK-weight yarn, 100g each. 24-inch US 4 circular needle. One stitch marker to mark syncopation point. A row counter is also helpful.

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