Increases

Increases are important with top down garments.

Increases cause ridges along the increase section. Some show up more, some are hidden more and some are part of the design.

I have tried many types of increases and have finally chosen the lifted increase as my increase of choice. I feel it is the most “hidden” increase. I am all about not having increases, decreases or short rows jumping out to catch my eye. (A trait from my paternal grandmother – more on that another time……)

A lifted increase is not differentiated as a left increase or a right increase. It does look a tad different as you work your increase sets, but it is worked the same: lift the stitch below up to your left hand needle and knit into it (or purl). I have had a technical writer change my pattern instructions to indicate M1 left and M1 right. Probably just because her technical mind needed the distinction. I laughed went I saw it and now I just hope it doesn’t cause confusion to knitters since she put the exact same instructions for both increases!

Shortly after I made my increase of choice decision, a friend of mine saw a video featuring Elizabeth Zimmerman. Evidently, my increase of choice was also the “ONLY” increase to use according to the master knitter.

With this choice of increase, I also started to experiment with not making that nasty ridge running diagonally down to the underarm join. I chose a 10 row repeated increase, stair stepping the increases from the markered increase area. It gives a smoother increase progression.

Enjoy your increases, give joy to your craft and as always:

Happy Knitting!