I have already posted a little tutorial on how to increase the number of stitches by one (check out my KFB post), but what if your pattern asks for you to increase the number of stitches by two (in other words, make 2 additional stitches out of one stitch)? This may be shown as the abbreviation “inc 2″, or as “knit into the front and back and front of the stitch”. Some patterns include instructions on how to do this, but if they don’t, I hope this tutorial may help.
The pattern wants you to make another 2 stitches, for example, if you had 10 stitches on the row and the pattern states:
K9, inc 2 (12)
You would knit 9, then on the last 1 stitch you would make a multiple increase making 2 extra stitches on the row for 12 stitches in total (10 plus 2).
Compare this with the KFB increase, where the pattern instructions would be:
K9, KFB (11)
Here you would knit 9, then on the last 1 stitch you would make a KFB increase making 1 extra stitch on the row, for 11 stitches in total (10 plus 1).
Hopefully that is the school math bit over and done with! So here is how you make the multiple increase to make 2 additional stitches on a knit row.
Step 1:
Knit to the point of the increase. Knit into the front of the next stitch but do not let it fall off the needle
Step 2:
Then knit into the back of the same stitch, but again, do not let it fall off the needle. So far, this is just the same as KFB except we have kept the stitches on the needle.
Step 3:
Knit into the front of the same stitch again. You have now made two additional stitches (three stitches have been made out of one).
On this little sample of stockinette stitch, I have cast on 3 stitches and made an increase on the middle stitch of every knit row so you can see how the knitting slopes on either side of the knitting.
I hope this tutorial will help if you ever see “inc 2″!
Happy knitting!
Thanks for that tutorial. Commend your photography.
New banner…. Had me wondering initially if I was at the right place…LOL