Increase

You may also know this technique as knit 1, front and back. It is referred to as the Bar Increase because of the small, horizontal bit of yarn that it leaves on the right side of the fabric.

Insert your needle into the stitch knitwise and complete a knit stitch but do NOT slip the completed stitch off of the left needle.

Next, insert your right needle into the back loop of the same stitch which you just knitted.

Complete another knit stitch and this time slip it off of the left needle.

Continue knitting as instructed. A few rows later you will see the result of your increase.

This is a nice increase that doesn’t leave a visual impact on your knitting as the Bar Increase is prone to do. You can choose to slant your increase to the left or right, based on the order in which you complete the stitches.

To slant right: Insert your right needle into the stitch below the next stitch on your left needle.

Knit this stitch.

Now insert your right needle into the next stitch on the needle (the one above the stitch you just knit).

Knit this stitch.

To slant left: Knit a stitch. Use your left needle to pick up the stitch that is two stitches below the first stitch on your right needle.

Knit this stitch through the back loop.

Here are the finished increases one row later.

This is a very easy increase to work with and you can choose whether it slants to the left or to the right. It is created in the same way as the Loop Cast On. You can create the loop using your thumb (as shown in the cast on example), using your forefinger (the working yarn is often already wrapped around it), or by making the loops and slipping them over the needle tip. We demonstrate using the forefinger method.

To slant left: Create a loop by wrapping the working yarn around your finger from front to back. Slip your needle into the back part of the loop from the bottom upwards.

Tug working yarn to tighten.

To slant right: Create a loop by wrapping the working yarn around your finger from back to front. Slip your needle into the front part of this loop from the bottom upwards.

Tug working yarn to tighten.

The make 1 (also known as the lifted make 1) is an easy and very tidy looking increase. It utilizes the running thread between two live stitches to create a new stitch. This increase can lean to the left or to the right depending on which direction you pick up the new stitch. Instructions for both are provided below.

To slant left: Lift the horizontal thread between your needles with your left needle tip from front to back. Knit this newly lifted stitch through the back loop.

To slant right: Lift the horizontal thread between your needles with your left needle tip from back to front. Knit this newly lifted stitch.

An easy way to make an increase in your knitting is to yarn over. This does, however, create a hole in your work. For this reason, it is primarily used as an increase in lace knitting and other pieces where open space is intentional or decorative.

To complete a yarn over, simply bring the yarn to the opposite side of the work that it had been on (from back to front or from front to back) and then continue your row as indicated. By bring the yarn to the opposite side of the work, you are causing an extra length of yarn to lie across the needle when you complete the next stitch. The example shows a yarn over in stockinette stitch on a knit row.

First, bring the yarn forward.

Work the next stitch with the yarn in front: this will involve crossing over the top of the needle to complete the knit stitch. Here is yarn over between two knit stitches.

The single yarn over will leave a hole in your work, as you will see a few rows later.