Knitter, we have a problem

Starting to see the beautiful pattern. And no holes.

So, I’m knitting on this Shibui cowl, so excited to be using this super soft yarn, and suddenly, I notice that my M1s are making holes. And I do not want holes in this pattern. I simply want increases. After some examination, I realize that I need to unknit a few rounds (of 260 stitches!) but be smart, I’m thinking. What will I do to stop the problem from happening again?

I try increasing with a standard M1R and I think this is too tight. So, I don’t know what I’m going to do but I can’t live with it the way it is. So, I unknit. I don’t mind unknitting because I am fairly quick at it, but three rounds of 260 sts each is a lot of unknitting. I did a bit at a time so I wouldn’t get frustrated. Then, I went ahead and knitted on.

Lifting the bar definitely ended up working because the bar was so loose and that was the real problem. I just couldn’t tighten up my stitches enough. My solution was to lift the bar for all M1s on one round, then do a backward thumb increase (as the pattern calls for) on every other round. This has solved the problem of gaping holes. There is a small hole here and there but I can live with that. I don’t want it to be too tight.

And now I am blissfully knitting in the round again, working on the second repeat of Rounds 1-18. I do love how this is knitting up.