Sowing the Seeds of Brioche
- Susanna
- Jun 6
- 4 min read
In the springtime we plant seeds in the hopes of getting a plentiful harvest in the fall. If you cast on a lush brioche cowl now, it'll give you a comforting embrace on cool autumn days. Here's my latest design: Villikaura.
Designed for three colors of DK-weight yarn in mind, Villikaura is a richly textured cowl made of three sections in an undulating brioche pattern. The name means "wild oats" in Finnish and that's what the cowl takes is name from: the waving brioche pattern reminiscent of grain stalks reaching for the sunlight. The resulting fabric is squishy and three-dimensional, with a rhythmic movement and a fascinating interplay with color.
Villikaura is worked seamlessly in the round on a small circular needle, starting and ending with a bit of twisted ribbing. The main body of the cowl consists of three sections of two-color brioche where the three colors of different values — light, medium, and dark — alternate in pairs. This creates a rhythmic and dynamic effect which keeps things interesting to knit without being overwhelming to handle. Each section has at most two colors but you're only working with one yarn on each round.
Not gonna lie, I wouldn't recommend Villikaura as your first foray into two-color brioche. If you're looking for something easier to start your brioche journey with, take a look at Briochepira Cowl. It's a free pattern for a double brioche cowl written for two colors of yarn, and will get you acquainted with switching colors in brioche. Exact yarn weight or gauge are not important.
The brioche pattern is a modified version of Wavy Buds from Nancy Marchant's 2014 book Knitting Fresh Brioche. I've shifted the beginning of the repeat slightly and added in a few extra rounds to the buds to make them more elongated and grain-like in shape. In the original the buds are smaller, more reminiscent of tiny leaves or, indeed, buds of leaves.
To knit the pattern, prior brioche experience is helpful, especially of two-color brioche in the round. In addition, you also need to be familiar with brioche increases (brK-yo-brK) and left-and right-leaning brioche decreases (brLsl-dec and brRsl-dec). Brioche abbreviations can be a bit of a mouthful! The ability to read brioche charts is also a plus but round-by-round written instructions are also provided in the pattern.
The three brioche sections are accentuated by the change in color values. The color that was on the background in the previous section moves to the foreground in the next. Sometimes it's the lighter color that forms the grain stalks, other times it's the darker one of the pair.
If you followed along the creation of this pattern in my Mighty Networks community, you will no doubt remember that I ended up knitting my sample 2½ times because I wasn't happy with the color order. I wanted the cowl to have a gradient effect with the colors growing from dark to light. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and looking at the finished piece from a distance.
The order the sections are worked in plays nicely with the trio of colors in my sample. Because my middle-tone color was pretty close to the darkest one, this gives a darker overall look to the lower part of the cowl. If your middle color (B) is brighter and/or lighter in tone, you can to switch the order of the first two sections to get a smooth gradient effect.
My sample cowl was knit in Lankastudio Suovilla Riite, a rustic 100% wool yarn from a Finnish indie dyer who uses plant dyes exclusively. The yarn has a lot of sheepy lanolin which gives it a stickiness to work with but it bloomed and softened beautifully when washed. The color palette is a trio in rusty tones: Iltaruska (dark brownish-orange), Angervo (heathered orangey-brown), and Magnolia (soft salmon-y pink). One 50-gram skein of each color was enough with plenty left over.
Because you only need small amounts of each of the three colors, Villikaura is a dream for stash-diving, using up treasured leftovers, precious one-skein purchases, or a set of three DK minis. Let your color palette reflect your mood, your season… or simply the yarn you already have!
Here are some ideas for color combinations, shown here in various shades of Rowan Felted Tweed which would make a great substitute for Riite.
Earthy neutrals: deep brown, taupe, oatmeal
Bold contrast: navy, mustard, cream
Soft gradient: burgundy, rose, blush
Faded denim: indigo, medium wash, pale blue
The pattern includes three size options — small, medium, and large — for both circumference and length. In addition, you can customize it further to practically any size: just cast on a number of stitches divisible by 6.
To knit the pattern you'll need DK-weight yarn in three different color values in the following amounts:
Color A (dark): approx. 90 [110, 130] m or 100 [120, 140] yd
Color B (medium): approx. 90 [110, 130] m or 100 [120, 140] yd
Color C (light): approx. 70 [90, 110] m or 75 [100, 120] yd
In addition to yarn, you'll also need 3.0 mm or US size 2½ short circular needles for the brioche and 3.5 mm or US 6 for twisted ribbing, one stitch marker, and a darning or tapestry needle to weave in ends.
The recommended needle sizes may seem a bit counter-intuitive first but make sense when you consider the structure of brioche fabric. The yarnover method of doing brioche tends to knit up quite loosely compared to the knit-below (Fisherman's rib) method. Bear in mind, then, that you'll need the smaller of the two needle sizes for brioche and go up by half a millimeter (or one US size) for twisted ribbing.
Villikaura is now available in my all my pattern shops: Payhip, LoveCrafts, and Ravelry (seizure warning). Use the hashtags #villikauracowl and #talviknits on Instagram to share your project. I’d love to see your colors and creative interpretations!
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