Knitting Increases: How to knit increases

The following video will show you how to do the two most popular knitting increases. Knit in front and back (kfb) and the make 1 (m1) increase are the increases designers use most often in their knitting patterns.

How to Make Knitting Increases

Hi, it's Nancy Queen from NobleKnits and I'm here to talk to you today about two types of increases: the make one increase which is also known as the bar method, and the regular increase which is known as knit in front and back of a stitch.  

The big difference between the two stitches is the make 1 increase is an almost invisible increase, while the knit-in-front-and-back increase has more stitch definition. It creates a little bump in the knitting.

Knit in Front and Back Increase (kfb)

In a knit-in-front-and-back..I'm going to knit a stitch here...you are going to knit a stitch leaving the stitch on the needle, then knit into the back of the stitch. So here I'll do one right now. I'm going to knit this stitch, now I'm not taking this stitch off the needle, now I'm going to go into the back of the stitch...like that..and knit it.

There's my increase. You can see this increase created a little bump almost like a purl. Now I'm going to knit a few more stitches, then I'll do the bar method which is the make one increase. Both increases are really easy to do, it just depends on what results the designer was trying to achieve in the knitting. Does she want you to see the increase for more stitch definition, or does she want it to be hidden.

Make 1 Increase (m1)

Now with your left hand needle you are going to pick up from front to back, that middle bar. I'll do that again. So if you look right here, there is a bar between the knitting - between the two stitches.  You'll pick it up from front to back.

Then you knit into the back of the stitch, like this. There is your make-one increase. It looks as if it was always there. You can't tell - it doesn't have a bump the way the other increase does.

Both methods are easy to do and now you know them both!