A quick-knit two-colour brioche cowl. Ideal for a second brioche project, it uses some fundamental brioche increases and decreases, and provides a gentle introduction to brioche chart reading (although it’s all written out, too). A full explanation of the Brioche stitches is provided as a refresher, along with tips to make it easier.

The variegated yarn used in the sample is leftovers of a skein that was custom-dyed as part of Knitted Wit’s Designers’ Dogs fundraising project. The colourway was inspired by our rescue dog, Dexter. He’s a mostly black-and-tan beagle mix with a splash of white, who wears a jaunty red collar. The motif represents the winding path that beagles like to take when walking – weaving back and forth, sniffing everything in their path. The three ribs represent our family: me, my husband, and Dexter.

This yarn, sadly, is no longer available, but any combination of solid with a wild variegated yarn would work well. It would look just as good in two solid colours, as long as there’s lots of contrast.

The basic design is very flexible; I’ve included suggestions for using other yarns, or making the cowl wider.