Nondaily Tip No. 7: M1R (and M1L) in a pinch

This is just a teeny tip.
You may already be doing just this.
Or you may have some other way of making those Make One Right increases more manageable.
But just in case you don’t, here’s a way how.
And the tip concerns mainly the M1R for it is the peskier one.

Oh, and alright. I’ll also confess to always and forever getting confused about my Lefts and Rights when they need to happen on every row, on both Right Side and Wrong Side. There is help.
But first let’s just look at M1R.

M1R (Make One Right) Mnemonic

RIGHT – REAR
For M1R (and M1Rp) the Left Needle goes into the bar from the REAR (from behind).

Like so:

insertFromRearIMG_8712

Then you knit (M1R) or purl (M1Rp) into the front leg.
This can be a bit tricky and often involves a little struggle between the tight loop and the needle.
No need.
And this is my actual (rather tiny) tip.
Pinch or push the loop into place with your index finger. Like so:

pinchIMG_8715

Push down on the loop and feed it toward you to make it bulge in front of the needle.
You’re creating space for the Right Needle so it can do its business, that is, purling or knitting into the front leg – in this case purling for a M1Rp.

See, push even a little more perhaps:

IMG_8717b

Keep holding the loop in place as you insert your Right Needle.

And then you simply purl (M1Rp):

IMG_8729

On the knitted side of things you knit. Keep pinching the loop while inserting Right Needle…:

keepPushing_IMG_8744

…then knit into front leg (M1R):

knitM1R_IMG_8748

In the case above an increase was made also on the preceding row (a M1Rp) – and you can see how the two increases are leaning in the same direction, namely to the RIGHT.

What about the M1L (Make One Left)?

LEFT … well, it’s the not-right, not-rear way… or perhaps it’s L for the LAZY way?

For knitted increases it’s the one that comes most naturally (to me, at least) and probably the one you too would make if no direction is specified – you may be told to simply M1 (make one).
(The M1Lp is a more twisted affair and my way of doing it is probably not helpful to anyone but me so I’m just going to show the normal sane way below.)

For a M1L (or a M1Lp) increase, you insert the Left Needle from the Front.

... placed onto Left Needle to become a Insert from Front for a M1L

On the knitted side of things, knit into the back leg (k1tbl) of the bar-loop. Voilà, a M1L:

ktbl_IMG_9906

On the purled side of things, purl into the back leg for the M1Lp:

Ptbl_IMG_8778

All done!

You can stop reading here…

What follows may confuse things if you are simply trying to get a grip on M1L and M1R (and the pinch).
You already have the info you need to make your increases lean the way you wish, and a mnemonic for remembering which is which (RIGHT–REAR).

Right Needle helps things along

But why leave well enough alone?
If you’re still reading, I’ll illustrate (maybe unnecessarily) why the knitted M1L seems more natural (to me).
(Now that we have the RIGHT-REAR mnemonic, I don’t need to think NaturaLeft, but I still do.)

OK, so you are usually told to insert your Left Needle into the bar from the front.

This is not what makes the M1L natural. Rather, it’s what makes instructions clear and comprehensible.
What makes the M1L natural or Lazy is – you can use your Right Needle to help things along.

And that’s what I do, for the Right Needle (RN) is my working needle.

Which looks like this (click on images for larger views):

Use the Right Needle to pick up the bar to place it on Left Needle (LN).
The Right Needle goes in from rear to place the bar on Left Needle (inserted from FRONT) and with RN still inside the loop proceed to knit the back leg (k1tbl) of the loop.
It’s one sweeping, continuous movement.
That’s what makes the M1L natural.
To me.

One last thing…

To make every-row increases lean consistently in the same direction, you need to mirror them.
A Leftie on the Right Side is a Leftie also on the Wrong Side…
In plain stocking stitch, to create on your RIGHT (knitted) SIDE a string of left-leaning increases (M1L), one above the other as for example along a shawl edge, you’ll do M1L on the Right Side – on the Wrong Side you’ll do a M1Lp.

This is how the every-row edge increases are made for the edges of, just as for an exaaaaample, Mysteriosa (my first MKAL).
On every Right Side you start with a M1L and end with a M1R.
On every Wrong Side you start with a M1Rp and end with a M1Lp.

It could have been the other way around (as it would be for a heel or thumb gusset*) – as long as it’s consistently the other way around.
For this shawl I just decided that this is how I like to lean my increases.

*For a thumb or heel gusset that emerges in the midst of knitted fabric you want the right edge to lean right and the left edge to lean left. Shawl edges are different.

Yarn used in photos: Fyberspates Vivacious DK  in the colour Sunshine

Definition of tiny or teeny: clearly unknown to the author


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