A better backwards loop?

#1

My current Stephen West project, the Resplendence Shawl, has a sort of feather-and-fan section where it’s (k1, m1). He specifies using backwards loop for the m1, but I find them quite hard to work into on the return pass when they’re part of a k2tog.

“Normal” m1s or other lifted stitches tend to fill in the gap too much. In this particular case, you WANT there to be holes!

To complicate things, this is done in laceweight suri alpaca, and it really doesn’t like being knit and then tinked very much. So if anyone knows another “airy” way to add stitches, I’d love to know. Or a trick to make the backwards loops looser.

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#2

Would a yarn over work or is that too much of a hole? I’ve sometimes used a yarn over on the row before the M1 then knit into the back loop to close it up. In your case, maybe a simple yarn over increase would work?

#3

If a typical yo is too big you might try a reverse yo and wrap it clockwise. To leave a hole on the following row you’d need to make sure to work into the leading leg.

#4

The next row is (yo, k2tog) all the way across. I feel like more yarn overs aren’t the answer, but maybe I’ll try it for a few stitches and have a look.

#5

Which might be hard to do as part of a k2tog?

I’ve tried reversing the backwards loops, and they were maybe slightly better, but rather harder to twist the other way.

I’ll probably just keep trying to make looser backwards loops.

#6

I bumped into this stretchy cast on, which inserts a sc between 2 stitches. I wonder if a similar technique might work for you?

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#7

I love that crochet cast in knitknotes, thanks for sharing, my mum told me when I was a kid about a crochet cast on but I didn’t see the point, I think she missed out telling me about the sc between. I think I’ll try this.

@ColoCro I have no idea what a backwards loop even is so I can’t help, unless a cast on similar to the previous sort given by knitknotes is an option in which case you might also try jennys surprisingly stretchy slip knot cast on which also leaves a small distance between stitches.

#8

It’s not the cast-on for the project, it’s a variation on M1, to add a stitch between stitches without “borrowing” from other stitches like a regular M1 or lifted stitches. It’s quite fast and easy to do, but tends to pull tight which makes the next row a bit harder.

I think after a few more rows, I’ll have settled into making the backwards loop looser.

It’s also often used to add several stitches, maybe for the underarm of a sweater or something like that. There are several ways to do it. You can see Stephen’s version here, at 2:40:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kv59SKGlh0&t=161s&ab_channel=StephenWest

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