The Two-Color Honeycomb Brioche stitch creates a wonderful lofty fabric with a, you guessed it, honeycomb texture! Using two colors, the stitch pattern creates a solid plane of one color, which peeps from behind delicate latticework in the contrast color. With just a four-row repeat, this stitch pattern is much simpler than it looks! Here’s our Two-Color Honeycomb Brioche Tutorial, where we show you how to create this fascinating stitch pattern.

Two-Color Honeycomb Brioche: Video Tutorial

Click To See Video Transcript

Hey guys, this is Laura from Purl Soho and I’m going to demonstrate Two-Color Honeycomb Brioche Stitch. As you can see here, I have a swatch worked up and my swatch is on a double pointed needle. This stitch can either be worked on a double pointed needle or a circular needle, but not a traditional straight needle that has a cap on one end. 

All right, I’m going to start with row one. Row one is worked with the contrast color. So here I have it, this darker color for my swatch here. The first step of row one is to slip one. So I’m going to slip the first stitch purlwise with my yarn in back. The next step is to look for that yarn over from the previous row and kind of nudge it towards the left. I want to do that in order to knit its paired stitch like so. Now I’m going to keep my yarn at the back. I’m going to slip this yarn over purlwise. The next step is to knit one. So we’re going to repeat those steps. I’m going to nudge the yarn over towards the left. I’m going to knit its pair slip the yarn over purlwise with yarn in back and knit one. Nudge this yarn over towards the left, knit its pair, slip the yarn over purlwise with yarn in back and knit one. 

So I’ve just completed row one with using my contrast color and I’m ready to work row two. But instead of turning my work for row two, I’m going to slide it to the other end of this needle. And the reason I’m doing that is because row two is also worked across the right side of the fabric. It’s worked with the main color, which is right here. Alright, so the first thing you do in row two is knit one. There we go. And now we get into the repeat. So the repeat begins by brioche purl two together. So what you want to do is identify the yarn over from the row below and its paired stitch. And you’re going to purl those two together. So brioche purl two together, just like that. 

The next step is to YOS, yarn over slip. This is kind of all done in tandem all at once. So I’m going to slip this stitch purlwise and simultaneously take this working yarn over the top of the needle to create that yarn over. And since my next step is purling, I’m going to bring it back to the front in order to brioche purl two together. There we go. And now we YOS and brioche purl two together, YOS brioche purl two together. 

I’ve just completed row two and I worked that with my main color. And now I’m ready to work row three and to work row three I’m going to turn my work. I’m going to turn this around and I’m going to work row three with the contrast color. So I want to bring the new yarn I’m about to work with underneath the yarn I just worked with. So I’m bringing my contrast color underneath my main color. Now the first step of row three is to slip one. And I’m going to slip one purl wise with a yarn in front just like this. And now I’m going to purl one. And now I’m going to just slip this yarn over again with my yarn in front. And purl two. And that’s your repeat. So I’m going to slip this yarn over with my yarn in front, purl two. 

Alright, I’ve just finished row three with working with my contrast color and to work row four, rather than turning my work, what I’m going to do is slide my work to the end of this needle and I’m going to work row four across this wrong-side row or with the wrong side facing me rather. And I’m going to work it with my main color, which is right here waiting for me. 

So the first part of row four is to knit one. The next step is called a YOS. So I’m going to bring my yarn to the front in order to make the yarn over part of the YOS, yarn over slip. So bringing my yarn to the front, I’m going to slip this stitch purlwise, I’m going to carry this yarn across the top of my working needle to create that yarn over. And now with my yarn in back, I’m ready to do the next step, which is a brioche knit two together. So I have my yarn over here and it’s paired stitch. And I’m going to work those two together. So once again, I’m going to YOS. So yarn to the front, slip the stitch purlwise, pull my yarn across the top of my working needle. And then I’m going to brioche knit two together. Yarn to the front, YOS, brioche knit two together, yarn to the front part of my YOS slipping that purl wise yarn over the top of the needle. And then I’m knitting the yarn over and its paired, stitched together.

Two-Color Honeycomb Brioche: Step-By-Step Tutorial

Special Instructions

There are a few basic brioche techniques you’ll use to work this stitch pattern. Our Brioche Stitch Tutorial explains them more thoroughly, but in brief, they are…

YOS [yarn over slip]: Bring yarn forward, slip 1 purlwise, bring yarn over right needle.Cast on an odd number of stitches.

bk2tog (brioche knit 2 together): Knit the next stitch together with its paired yarn over.

bp2tog (brioche purl 2 together): Purl the next stitch together with its paired yarn over.

And if turning and sliding is new to you, please visit our Turn + Slide Tutorial!

The Stitch Pattern

To begin Two-Color Honeycomb Brioche, cast on an odd number of stitches.

Set-Up Row (wrong side): With Main Color (MC), *k1, YOS, repeat from * to last stitch, k1.

Row 1 (right side): With Contrast Color (CC), slip 1 with yarn in back (wyib), *pushing the previous row’s yarn over to the left of its paired stitch, knit the paired stitch, slip the yo wyib, k1, repeat from * to last 2 stitches, pushing the previous row’s yarn over to the left of its paired stitch, knit the paired stitch, slip the yo wyib, slip 1 wyib, slide work.

Row 2 (right side): With MC, k1, *bp2tog, YOS, repeat from * to last 2 stitches, bp2tog, k1, turn work.

Row 3 (wrong side): With CC, slip 1 with yarn in front (wyif), p1, *slip yo wyif, p2 repeat from * to last stitch, slip 1 wyif, slide work.

Row 4 (wrong side): With MC, k1, *YOS, bk2tog, repeat from * to last 2 stitches, YOS, k1, turn work.

Repeat rows 1-4 for the stitch pattern!

Try It Out!

We used this stitch in our Latticework Wrap, knit up in Cotton Pure. Check out the free pattern to try it out for yourself!

Two-Color Honeycomb Brioche | Purl Soho

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