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You can see a video of the shawl here and the story of its design here.

If you love brioche and you’ve always wanted to try brioche lace and cables, here’s the perfect project!

Mystique is a gentle introduction to both brioche lace and cables, and it comes with detailed video tutorials: it’s a new knitting experience and an excitingly different brioche fabric! Links to my video tutorials are given below.

This brioche shawl is worked top down in 2 colors with simple brioche lace eyelets, small cables and a few bobbles.
Shaping and patterning occur only on light color, light side rows, so there are many “resting” rows, and there are no complicated cast-ons or bind-offs. This will be a fairly relaxing knit!

The pattern is both written and charted, and has been tech edited and tested.

I had to name this pattern Mystique! Mystique is my favorite (anti)hero in the X-Men movies; her courage, grace and unusual beauty are very inspiring. The landscape of this shawl changes continuously in both texture and color (from blue to violet and back again), just like Mystique’s beautiful form. The name also applies to the mystical, magical quality of brioche lace!

Skill level: Intermediate. Familiarity with brioche increases and decreases.

Yarn: Fingering or sport weight yarn, about 459yds/420m each of light color (LC) and dark color (DC).
Note: You may use any fingering, light fingering or laceweight yarns (see testers’ projects) but your gauge, yardage and finished size may vary. Choose solid or tonal colors with good contrast.

For the shawl in the photo, I used light color (LC): Scheepjes Our Tribe; 70% single ply superwash merino wool, 30% polyamide; 459yds/420m/100g, in color 966 Miss Neriss: one skein and dark color (DC): Drops Fabel; 75% superwash wool, 25% polyamide; 224yds/205m/50g, in color Red uni colour 106: 2 skeins.
LC is a slightly fluffy sport weight single-ply yarn (which feels more like fingering) with long color changes. DC is a 4-ply solid-color sportweight with a firmer feel than LC.
Actual yardage used: LC 437yds/400m; DC 359yds/329m
You can take a closer look at these yarns in this video

Needles & notions: 3.5mm (US 4) and 5mm (US 8) circular needles (32” or longer); cable needle or split-ring marker, stitch markers, tapestry needle

Gauge: 9 sts/20 rows (40 passes) = 4” (10cm) in brioche rib with 3.5mm needles after severe blocking

Finished size: 84” (213 cm) along top edge, 25” (63.5 cm) height at center, 128” (325 cm) along bottom edge, after blocking. Pattern includes instructions to make it bigger.

YouTube tutorials
How to work Release Purl: a brioche lace stitch
Crochet bobbles in brioche and 2/2 brioche cables with and without a cable needle

Tester quotes

• It was awesome to knit, the pattern is GORGEOUS!! Easily adjusted to how much yarn you have.
• I really liked the openness of the lace with the brioche. The pattern was easy to follow, and the videos are very helpful.
• This turned out to be the most feathery and cozy scarf I have ever made! Absolutely love it.
• Me encanta tejer brioche, pero con este proyecto he aprendido cosas nuevas, es divertido y entretenido de realizar: I love knitting brioche, but with this project I have learned new things, it is fun and entertaining to do.

Many thanks to my wonderful testers: Poachtna rociomugares KatFire sapryo36 lifen
Link to test thread

Acknowledgement: This pattern uses techniques and stitches developed by Nancy Marchant. Modern brioche knitting owes everything to her!