I was looking over the knitting help increases diagram and I was a bit confused. Usually, I’ve seen left-leaning increases done on the left edge and right-leaning increases done on the right edge…but it doesn’t look like that’s what she did here? (I attached a screenshot for reference, the increases happen in the bottom section of the diamond. It was worked bottom-to-top)
My question is: is there a reason one would work a left-leaning increase on the right edge of the fabric?
Thanks!
I assume you’re referring to the M1L (or M1F) increase? That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s left leaning. It is just referring to the way it’s done I think. :think:
? mislabeled.
I thought a M1L was done at the end of a row and leans to the left.
I wouldn’t call it a “M1 Front” either as you are knitting into the back loop.
I think the M1F means you put the left needle into the front of the stitch between the needles. When I’m doing these kinds of increases it’s how I remember them.
Interesting, but I tend to use my R needle to lift the bar, from the back, and place it onto my left needle. 
Jan, you may be right about the name (M1Front) referring to the way the bar is slipped onto the needle (it makes sense), but why would they also call it a M1Left? Does it lean left at all?
I thought maybe it was mislabeled too, but it seems like a pretty big oversight 
I’m not sure. These increases don’t seem to have a strong lean either way. Whatever you call it it looks pretty good on her sample. :teehee:
Rochester- I’ve done this with my right needle as well. If you watch the video she does it with her left needle. M1F picks up from the front so you knit into the back, for M1B you pick he stitch up from the back and knit into the front.:shrug:
I agree with jan. These increases don’t have the strong bias of a KLL and KRL. They may be called M1R (M1B) or M1L (M1F) but they’re not left or right leaning.
Then why call them that at all?
Everything else I’ve ever read seems to indicate that they do lean one way or the other…
http://www.twistcollective.com/collection/component/content/article/92-how-to/1046-make-1-left-or-right-m1-m1l-m1rhttp://www.purlbee.com/knitting-tutorials-increases/2008/4/23/make-1-right-m1r-make-1-left-m1l.html
Then why call them that (M1L, M1R) at all?
Everything else I’ve ever read seems to indicate that they do lean one way or the other…
http://www.twistcollective.com/collection/component/content/article/92-how-to/1046-make-1-left-or-right-m1-m1l-m1r
http://www.purlbee.com/knitting-tutorials-increases/2008/4/23/make-1-right-m1r-make-1-left-m1l.html
They may lean, but maybe not as strongly. I’ve asked Amy to help as soon as she can.
LOL I long ago decided to ignore the names and just use what works. I gave up on the increase/decrease videos here because I can’t make heads or tails of them. That’s just me I have trouble with things that make sense to others.
[B]My question is: is there a reason one would work a left-leaning increase on the right edge of the fabric?
[/B]
I think that a left leaning increase on the right side of your knitting could be used as part of a stitch pattern and create a desired effect. :shrug: I don’t know, just hazarding a guess.
I’ll agree with you there. You can do anything you want, anywhere you want, if it gives you some desired effect.
But, for teaching purposes one should know which inc/dec lean left/right.
Yeah, if you’re learning them, you need to know. I finally remembered the lifted (kll, krl) increases…but right now I can’t tell you because I’m not doing them. :gah:
Hi everyone! :waving: What a great discussion!! Mandie932, you get applause :cheering: for being the first person to ever ask on our forum this very logical question!! (It’s not obvious, and one I wrested with for a few years myself!) Thanks for pointing me to the thread, Jan.
This is such a confusing topic, and I never found any definitive answer to it in my initial research when making this site. Now I see, as RochesterKnitter has linked to, that there are great examples out there explaining this, which illustrate the Left and Right context better than my sampler does. Although none of them say exactly WHY they are called Left or Right Leaning, I can tell you.
It’s confusing, because there seems no real reason to call them left or right leaning, because the increases themselves don’t truly “lean” the way decreases do. The sole reason for calling them leaning, is that, when used in the context of creating knitting that slants [B]away from a solid column of knitting[/B]–shown nicely in that twist collective image you linked to, RochesterKnitter (below)-- the M1L looks best with the left leaning fabric, and the M1R best with the right leaning. (And in this context, they do appear to lean.) If you use the opposite increases in those contexts, the strand that is picked up and worked into has a tendency to snug itself up against that solid column and make it look messy (illustrated nicely in one of the other links you shared, RochesterKnitter!).
Oh, and to clarify the original question: it’s confusing in my sampler, because the right edge is a solid column of knitting that is [I]already slanted to the right[/I], so the knitting that is slanting away from that solid column, is actually slanting to the left! Hence the use of the M1L! And of course the opposite is happening on the left side: the knitting is slanting to the right, away from a solid column of knitting (the 2 edge stitches), hence the use of M1R.
So in conclusion, what I got from this is that…
These increases paired up the center of a piece of fabric (M1L on left, M1R on right), push the fabric left and right respectively, while themselves staying straight.
But, the same increases paired at the edges of the fabric (M1L at end OR start of row, M1R at start OR end of row) appear to lean left at the end and right at the start regardless of which increase is used (it’s just that one way gives a smoother look), while the fabric itself stays straight.
Oh dear, I’ve not been clear….
You could use either increase and have the same effect, of the fabric leaning one way or another. That’s simply the effect of WHERE you put the increase, any increase you want. The “left and right leaning” business is ultimately about which looks neater in which circumstance, as illustrated in that last link you shared. Here are the images. See how, in the first image, both increases can make the fabric appear to lean to the right, relative to the blue line, but the M1R does a neater job of it. It’s even more clear in the M1L looking neater, leaning to the left in the second image.
Regarding my sampler, you have to turn my sampler sideways to the right, so the left edge is vertical, to “see” the fabric leaning to the right on the M1R increase, where I’ve used it. Although it’s a nifty effect, where I’ve placed the increases, it’s a poor example in terms of explaining the left and right leaning qualities of those increases.
(It’s all horribly confusing, I know! Which is why I originally renamed those increases based on how they are executed. But even that is less-than-perfect, as you pointed out, because you can execute it differently than I do! 
)