A brioche crochet beanie and matching cowl, worked in two colours of fingering weight wool. One purchase gives you both patterns.

Brioche crochet makes a deep, squishy ribbed fabric. Here the contrast colour runs through it as a line of short offset dashes, which is where the name comes from: the dappled light and shadow you get under trees in a wood. The inside face is smooth rather than ridged, so both pieces are comfortable against the skin.

SIZES

Beanie, one size: 47 cm (18.5in) circumference unstretched. Main height 21 cm (8.25in), plus 11 cm (4.25in) of ribbing, which you can turn up as much or as little as you like.

Cowl: 60 cm (23.5in) circumference, 21 cm (8.25in) tall.

YARN

Bare Naked Wools Better Breakfast Fingering: 55% merino, 35% dehaired alpaca, 10% nylon. 450 yards / 410 m per 4oz / 113g skein. The sample uses Milk & Honey as the main colour and Mocha as the contrast.

One skein of each colour makes either piece on its own. For both, you need two skeins of the main colour and one of the contrast.

Any fingering weight or 4 ply yarn will work if you can meet the gauge. The one thing to get right is contrast: the dashes are small, so two shades close together in tone will blur into the ribbing.

HOOK AND GAUGE

3.5 mm (E), or the size needed to meet gauge.

22 stitches and 25 rows = 10 cm in the brioche crochet stitch pattern, in the round.

Please work the swatch given in the pattern and block it before you start. Brioche crochet behaves differently from ordinary crochet so it is important to check before you start.

CONSTRUCTION

Both pieces are worked in the round and begin with a foundation single crochet (foundation double crochet in UK terms).

The beanie ribbing is added once the main hat is finished, worked in rows in half double crochet back loop only (half treble in UK terms) and joined as you go, so there is no sewing.

The cowl is a seamless tube with a crab stitch (reverse single crochet, or reverse double crochet in UK terms) edging top and bottom.

THE COLOURWORK

Only one colour is used at a time. Each round is worked in a single yarn, so there is no carrying a second colour inside the stitches, nothing to tangle, and no tension to balance between two working yarns. If you have kept away from colourwork because of the yarn management, this is a gentler route in.

What creates the pattern is which rounds you change yarn on.

WHAT YOU GET

A PDF with full written instructions for each design, 11 pages in total (6 beanie, 5 cowl). English, in both US and UK crochet terms, with links to video tutorials for the foundation and edging stitches. No chart; the brioche instructions are written only.

Skill level: intermediate. You will need to be comfortable working in the round.

LINKS

More about the design, and why I chose this yarn:
https://catherinecrochets.com/dapplewood-beanie-and-cowl-...

My other brioche crochet patterns:
Down the Line Beanie - https://catherinecrochets.com/down-the-line-beanie-brioch...
Sorcha Cowl - https://catherinecrochets.com/sorcha-brioche-crochet-cowl...

Crochet tutorials on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@catherinecrochets

Join my email list for new pattern releases, tutorials and tips, and get two free tapestry crochet patterns:
https://catherinecrochets.com/join/

You may sell finished items made from this pattern. Please do not copy, share or resell the pattern.