Tips and Tricks: m1l and m1r

My crafting has been made easier (and more fun) by the countless tips and tricks I have picked up over my many years of making. Some of them clicked right away and others took some… years… like this one!

I took a class from my good friend Lynn, and she told us we would never again have to look up the difference between a make one left (m1l) and a make one right (m1r). We just had to look at the way the stitch leaned.

So, I’d look at my finished make one, and I’d look and look and look some more. No matter how I did my make one, once the stitch was on the right needle, it looked to me like it leaned right. So, for many years, I kept looking up the difference in the m1l and m1r. Then it clicked!!

It’s not which way the stitch leans once it’s completed (it is, but that’s harder to see), it’s the way the bar you picked up leans on your left needle.

Here’s the m1l:

And the m1r:

Then, either knit it or knit it through the back, whichever twists the loop! I haven’t looked up the difference since, and I hope this helps you to do the same!