Quick fix: Tink (unknit) back stitch by stitch — it's slow but brioche is very difficult to rip back blindly. Each brioche stitch is paired with a yarn over, so you must undo both together.
What you are seeing
You've made an error in your brioche knitting — a brk (brioche knit) worked where a brp (brioche purl) should be, or vice versa, or you've lost your stitch count. Brioche is a paired stitch pattern where each stitch is always worked together with the yarn over from the previous row, making it harder to fix than standard knitting.
Why it happens
- Losing track of whether you're on a brk or brp row
- Working the yarn over separately from its paired stitch
- Picking up after a break on the wrong row
- Two-color brioche: mixing up which color is active
Fix it now
- Identify the error row and count how many stitches back the mistake is.
- To tink (unknit) brioche: working from right to left, insert the left needle into the stitch below the last stitch on the right needle. Drop the right needle stitch and its yarn over together — they're a pair. Place both back on the left needle as one unit.
- Continue tinking back to the mistake, treating each brioche stitch + yarn over as a single unit.
- For two-color brioche: tink one color at a time — work back in the same alternating color sequence you used to knit forward.
- Once back at the error, identify and fix it, then continue knitting.
Prevent it next time
- Mark the first row of each repeat with a different color marker so you always know which row you're on
- For two-color brioche, use differently colored markers for each color's rows
- Insert a lifeline every 20 rows — thread yarn through live stitches including yarn overs