The Make 1 Loop Increase

What happens when you need to pair the Showy Decease with an increase that doesn’t show?

There are many types of increases, each with its own set of beneﬁts and issues. When searching for a partner for our Showy Decrease, we looked for an increase with minimum impact and one that did not tighten up or bunch the fabric so the series of Showy Decreases can run along the front of the stockinette fabric smoothly. The increase we’re proposing here is actually not new at all. It is the increase used by Elizabeth Zimmerman in her book Knitting Without Tears and involves adding a twisted loop of yarn to the needle. In her book, she refers to it as a Make 1 increase. However, since most patterns today deﬁne “m1” as a Lifted Make 1 we needed another way to refer to it. An alternative to EZ’s Make 1, is to yarn over on one row then twist the stitch closed on the next row or round. Both the Twisted Loop method and Yarn Over Twist method can be worked as a left or right leaning increase. Our patterns will indicate when one works better than the other. You can see an demonstration on our blog post from December 2, 2014 (blog.knittingnuances.com).

Left Leaning Increase Right Leaning Increase

Option#1: Place a twisted Option#1: Place a counter loop on the needle clockwise twisted loop on the needle Yarn is twisted and placed on the needle so that the working Yarn is twisted and placed on tail is in back. When you get to the needle so that the working the stitch on the next row, work tail is in front. When you get to normally the stitch is already the stitch on the next row, knit through the back loop to twisted. prevent double twisting.

Option#2: Yarn over and purl Option#2: Yarn over in tbl on next row. reverse and purl on next row or YO as normal, purl through knit if it’s in the round. back loop (this requires a bit of YO in opposite direction, purl or a needle twist to purl loop knit as normal to close. closed). If you’re in the round you’ll knit tbl.

Beneﬁts of each method: Twisting the loop is a simple one step process but the yarn over may work more smoothly with your knitting rhythm. You can decide which combination works best for you.