Make One Left: How to Do It Step by Step

Make One Left is a knitting stitch that makes nearly invisible left-leaning increase. Makers reach for it for sleeve and body shaping, thumb gussets, top-down yokes. It is rated intermediate here, so it helps to be comfortable with the basic stitches first and to practice on a swatch before a project.

1. Find the horizontal bar of yarn between the last stitch worked and the next stitch. 2. With the left needle, lift the bar from front to back. 3. Knit the lifted bar through the back loop. 4. Slide the new stitch to the right needle. Work slowly for the first few repeats, keep your tension even, and check the result against the steps before continuing across a whole row or motif.

US patterns abbreviate make one left as M1L. UK patterns use the same abbreviation, M1L, so this one reads the same on both sides of the Atlantic. Pattern keys list every abbreviation used, usually near the materials list.

The most common problems are: knitting through the front loop, which leaves a hole; lifting the bar back to front, which makes m1r. Most are easy to spot if you pause after a few repeats and compare your work with the steps. Good light helps a great deal, especially with dark yarn or thread.

Stitches closely related to make one left include Make One Right, Knit Front and Back, Yarn Over. Learning them together makes patterns easier to read, because many designs switch between related stitches to change texture, height or line. Each has its own step-by-step page in the stitch dictionary.