Knit your first 2-color brioche beanie!

A small rolled edge leads into a beautifully simple beanie with an elegant pattern of decreases at the crown. No need for twisted German cast-on here — learn that later! :wink:

This pattern was designed for a beginner brioche class at Cashmere Goat in Camden, ME. I designed the class, the support videos, and the hat pattern to be the project and resources I wish I’d had as a beginner.

One of the challenges of knitting brioche for me was that the standard brioche abbreviations for making those brioche shawls (the slipped/wrapped stitches) didn’t make sense. I knew the words and the moves in regular knitting, but suddenly they were being used in another context to do some totally different moves!

This pattern includes two versions of the exact same hat:

• The Easy Reader version - this version of the beanie is written for a true brioche beginner. The abbreviations for slipping and wrapping are descriptive of the actual “moves” you’re making. Additionally, the pattern is designed to be easy to follow visually — especially during the decrease section! And I’ve included tips and reminders that are helpful as you’re learning the new visual vocabulary for brioche.

• The Standard version - this version of the beanie is written in standard brioche language. After working through the Easy Reader, challenge yourself to read the Standard Version — you’ll be ready for it, and if not, do the Easy Reader a second time

Tips for selecting yarn:

• A non-superwash yarn is less slippery on your needles and extra forgiving when you’re a beginner briocher. Malabrigo Worsted is so squishy and lush, but anything similar will do.

• You’ll want two highly contrasting yarns for this first hat project so it’s easy to see your work and differentiate between the two colors. In the sample, the main color is Malabrigo Natural and the contrast color is Rosalinda. And remember, one of the magical things about brioche knitting is it’s reversible.

• With these two skeins, you will have enough yarn to make two hats!

Needles:
Don’t let this throw you for a loop! For a fitted hat like this one, because brioche is so squishy, you typically size down several needles from what you’d usually select for the yarn weight. So it’s not a typo — use a US size 5 (3.75 mm) with worsted weight yarn.

Gauge:
Brioche is SQUISHY and stretchy and this hat has fit all of the adult heads we’ve tried it on so far. So for this very very first brioche hat, don’t worry about a gauge swatch! Shocker, right? This hat will definitely fit someone in your life!

Help and Reinforcement Videos:
I made these videos for my beginners! This playlist includes basics about brioche knitting and brioche purling, as well as wrapping and slipping, plus a special video for fixing mistakes.

This pattern was tested by two knitters new to brioche who are both terrible at reading directions, and also by the beginners in my classes.