Increase in Knitting
The Bar Increase Method / Knit Twice into the Same Stitch
If a knitter wants to knit something other than plain rectangles, she must know how to increase. One way to do this is to knit twice into the same stitch.
The bar increase method in knitting can be worked into a knit stitch or a purl stitch. It creates a small horizontal decorative bar. It is also known as knitting twice into the same stitch.
Bar Increase Instructions in Knit
Increasing in this manner basically begins with initiating a knit stitch. At the position for the increase, take the right needle from left to right through the front of the first stitch on the left needle. Wrap the yarn from back to front between the tips of the two needles. (Figure 1)
Draw the tip of the right needle back through the stitch on the left needle. However, do not pull the stitch off the left needle as would be done if a knit stitch was being completed. Instead, keep the wrapped yarn on the right needle where it will form a new stitch, but leave the other “half” of the stitch on the left needle where it already is.
Take the tip of the right needle from right to left through the back of the stitch this time. Again, the tip of the right needle should end up behind the left needle. Wrap the yarn from back to front between the tips of the two needles. (Figure 2)
Draw the tip of the right needle back through the stitch on the left needle. Keep the wrapped yarn on the right needle where it will form a new stitch. Essentially, the knitter is completing the knit stitch that was started at the very beginning. (Figure 3)
Slide the right needle to the right, slipping off the used loop on the tip of the left needle. There should now be two stitches where only one would have been. (Figure 4)
More Information
There are quite a few ways to increase in knit. In addition to the bar increase described in this article, increasing can be accomplished using the bar increase in purl, the make one on knit row, the make one on purl row, the yarn over while working knit, or the yarn over while working purl methods. It’s simply a matter of where the knitter is in a project, or in the case of the yarn over, what kind of effect she is trying to create.
Once armed with increases and decreases, a knitter is ready to tackle much, much more of the world of knitting.
More aricles on basic knitting techniques are: The Purl Stitch and The Knit Stitch.
Additional information can be found at Knit Cast On—Long Tail Method , Knit Cast-On Topics, and Knit Gauge Swatching Topics.
