Our lifted increase tutorial has been very popular. We show 4 increases – left-leaning and right-leaning and on both knit and purl stitches. It’s everything you need to know how to knit lifted increases.

They’re one of my favorite increases. Here are my top reasons why I love lifted increases:

• they’re easy to execute
• they don’t leave a hole
• they don’t creat a visible bar
• they stack up pretty
• there’s both a left and right-leaning version
• the purl-side version isn’t any more difficult to work

Give them a try on your next new project.

You can use lifted increases anywhere it says “increase” (in other words, the type of increase isn’t specified). You can also use them when a M1L or M1R is listed. They don’t replace a KFB increase as well because KFB creates a bar and the lifted increase doesn’t. Since the lifted increase doesn’t twist the bar it doesn’t impact the texture of the fabric as much. This might be a preferred look – you have to decide. If you’re not sure, you know what I’m going to suggest. Swatch.

Oh, and I don’t love them for the increases on a toe-up sock. To be clear, I don’t love working them there. There just isn’t enough space and it’s crazy fiddly in the beginning. My favorite increase for this? The good old standby – KFB. They look nice at the toe and they’re much easier to work in that small space. I actually like the bar it creates at the toe.

For other uses though, a lifted increase can be a great option. Give it a try on a swatch and see how it works.