Is brioche reversible?

Someone asked me recently if they could just turn a 2 color brioche cowl inside out, and have the other color be the main color. And the answer is yes, and no.

In plain 2 color brioche rib, turning the piece inside out looks pretty much like a positive/negative reversal of color. But with increases and decreases, the stitches don’t exactly match.

Here’s the RS of my Leafy Origami Cowl. Note how the edges of each leaf come together to close up the top of the leaf, and the stem of the next leaf comes from that point.

On the reverse side, the leaves don’t close at the top, and there’s no stem to begin the next leaf. It’s pretty, but not exactly the same.

I’m knitting a smaller cowl with the colors reversed; this is the RS. The blue shows up pretty well as the main color, better than you can see in this picture.

Here’s the inside. Again, the tops of the leaves don’t close up, and there’s no stem to begin the leaf above it. Both sides are pretty, but not exactly the same, stitch-wise. You can wear it either way; it’s your cowl! Or it could be, after the pattern gets published in December.

Here’s a look at the outside and inside of my Brioche Pastiche hat. Mostly, I choose the brighter color to be the patterning color on the RS of my fabric, because light colors pop against the dark so they’re easier for your eye to read the pattern. If I wanted that interesting WS pattern to be the light color on the RS, I’d knit this with colors reversed, and then turn it inside out.

DH just gave me this charcuterie board with my logo engraved on it. He’s impressed with how I’ve pivoted in 2020 and adapted to teach online via Zoom, and make and edit videos for the Knitting Circle. He wanted to honor the growth of PDXKnitterati. So sweet! In case you want to know, the board is from Amy Berg at Birchwood and Main (Facebook link).

And a reminder! The Indie Designer Gift-a-Long sale on Ravelry runs through midnight Eastern tonight (9 pm Pacific). My designs are in my GAL bundle on my Ravelry designer page here, and a listing of all designers is in this Ravelry thread here. Coupon code is giftalong2020 for 25% off participating patterns.

The Fasten Off Yarn-Along sale continues through December 5, also 25% off. Code for that sale is FO2020. My patterns in the sale are here, and you can search for patterns from all participating designers on the Fasten Off YAL site here.

Happy knitting!