Left-Leaning Bar Increase from the Purl Side
A little while back, I received a question (hi, Andrea!) about how to make a Left-Leaning Bar Increase (which is made by knitting into the front and back loop of the same stitch, written kfb or k1fb)--from the purl side. In other words, not a pfb (which actually creates the look of the Right-Leaning Bar Increase), but how to duplicate the exact look of the kfb when working on the other side of the fabric.
And guess what? I figured it out! :-)
When working a kfb, on the knit side of your fabric, you work to the stitch you want to increase. Usually, this is the stitch after a stitch marker. Then you knit into the front leg and the back leg of the same stitch before slipping it off the left needle. The result is an extra stitch on the left of the original one that has a little bar across its base, like this:
Left-leaning bar increase detail. This was made from the knit side of the fabric.
To create this exact look from the other side of the fabric, on the purl side:
- Work to one stitch before marker. Slip stitch knitwise onto right needle, then slip directly back onto left needle.
- Knit into the front leg. Drop stitch from left needle.
- Use the left needle to pick up the right loop of the stitch directly below the one you just created from the right side of the yarn. This will create a loop on the left needle with the right leg in front, which extends from the same stitch you just worked into.
- Purl into the front leg of this picked up stitch.
That's it! If you check the knit side of your work, it should look like you just made a kfb--except you and I both know better, don't we? *wink, wink.*
This tutorial can also be found in the Stitch Tutorials section of my site here.
Happy knitting!
The bottom increase was done from the knit side. The remainder were made on the purl side of the fabric.
A video knitting tutorial explaining my 5-in-1 Pickup technique for eliminating thumb gaps when picking up stitches.