WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS
(in order of appearance in the video):
m1b - place the yarn loop onto the right needle going from the back to front of work (increases 1 stitch, created stitch leans right).
m1a - make 1 backward loop with the working yarn exiting to the back of work (increases 1 stitch, created stitch leans left).
On the next row: work these stitches through the front loops as usual.
Warning: a technical explanation follows!
Knitters familiar with my patterns will recognize these increases, as I rely on them heavily. The reason I like them so much is that they are among the few increases that don’t pull up the yarn from the row below when creating an extra stitch. If you think about it, m1L/R, Inv L/R, LLI/RLI all pick up a bar, a loop, or a stitch from the rows below. This doesn’t always give the neatest results, as sometimes we end up with the distorted stitches of the rows below or visible loops of the previous color at color changes.
For m1a / m1b we are creating a stitch just with the working yarn and stitches below remain undisturbed. So for my patterns that feature traveling stitches, crisp lace, increases next to striped of different colors, or defined increase lines I choose m1a and m1b in most cases.