Two Simple Ways To Increase Stitches Without A Hole - 10 Rows A Day

This quick tutorial is about one of the most popular ways to increase stitches – knitting into the same stitch twice. Because each stitch has two legs – front and back, we can easily make two stitches out of one by working into each leg of that stitch.

There are two ways to make this increase. We can first work into the front leg, and then into the back leg of a stitch. Or, we can do the opposite and knit into the back leg of a stitch before we knit into its front leg. In both cases, we add one more stitch to the work without making a hole in the fabric.

Because we twist the original stitch, one of the legs of that stitch forms a bar underneath the added stitch. That’s why this increase is often called a “bar increase”.

The first increase is well-known as kf&b or KFB (which means Knit Front and Back). It looks like an equally spaced set of bars next to a line of knit stitches.

The second way to make this increase has a more decorative look. The bars are not as visible and the line next to those bars looks a lot like a wheat sheaf or a braid.

Unfortunately, this way of making a bar increase is not so popular. In fact, I couldn’t find any information about this technique in any knitting books I own, and there seems to be no mentioning of this way in online resources. I’m sure many knitters thought of making an increase that is opposite to KFB but probably I just couldn’t find any details about their discovery.

Since I don’t know any other names for this increase, it seems to be logical to call it KBF (Knit Back and Front).

Let’s see how we can make both versions of the bar increase step by step.

Both these methods will work well in cases when you need to increase stitches in every round of a seamless project. I used KFB to form the sleeves of the Everyday Tee and I love that the fabric was not puckered or otherwise distorted by such steep shaping.

Read the full step-by-step version of this tutorial:

If you are a club member,read here(no ads)

Not a club member?Read here(with ads)

FREE mini-courseabout three pro knitting methodsthat will instantlyelevate the look of your projectsand make you a more skilled knitter

Give it a watch

“Matching Cast Ons and Bind Offs, Part 1” Book

Discover six pairs of cast on and bind off methods that form identical edges on projects worked flat and in the round.

SOFTCOVER DIGITAL

“Matching Cast Ons and Bind Offs, Part 2” Book

Discover six more pairs of cast on and bind off methods that form identical edges on projects worked flat and in the round.

SOFTCOVER DIGITAL

“Neat Side Edges” Book

Learn twelve ways to make side edges of a knitted project nice and tidy. Plus, ways to fix side edges, and a way to improve edges of finished projects.

SOFTCOVER DIGITAL

Happy knitting!