Learn to use stacked increases

If you've learned how to work a stacked increase in my first article and possibly tried making a Star, you're ready to come up with your own patterns that use this unique stitch. This article is going to focus on how to adjust the height of your stacks  and go over some of the math. It is a lot like how you change the height of a stacked decrease.

 The pink swatch shows different heights of stacked decreases along an edge. Trying stacks of different heights is a great way to start breaking down the increases to fit you own purposes. These are the number of stitches increases in each stack:

 You can try out this swatch and get a feel for the different heights. I recommend circular needles for this. On the really tall increases, you may have to pull stitches on your cord in the middle of a row magic loop style to relieve tension that builds as you increase more and more.

CO 21 sts using the long tail cast on method.
Work a few rows in garter stitch to stabilize the swatch.
Increase row: K2, KYOK, SB2, KYOK, K4, [KYOK, SB2] x 3, KYOK, K6, [KYOK, SB2] x 5, KYOK, K8, [KYOK, SB2] x 7, KYOK, K10, [KYOK, SB2] x 9, KYOK, K11. (81 sts)
Bind off.

Stitch definitions

CO - Cast on

KYOK -  (Knit, Yarn Over, Knit)  Knit a stitch, leaving stitch on left needle; without dropping stitch, YO, knit into front loop of same stitch again, slipping stitch from left needle to complete increase.

SB - Slip back to left needle.

To figure out your own math, start with the number of stitches you want to decrease it should be even. I'm going to represent that number with the symbol i for increase.

Once you have i, you'll calculate the number of times you will repeat [KYOK, SB2], I'm calling that number r for repeat.

Then you'll just put r into the decrease instructions like this:

This should look fairly familiar to you, the only part that's different is the final Kr at the end. This is part of the increase because you will always end your increases at the top of a stack, and to continue the row, you'll need to go down the left side. Kr doesn't include any spacer stitches, those can be added on either side of this increase to separate them from each other. You'll find that the closer together and taller the increases are, the harder they are to do.

Hopefully, now you can see what needs to happen in order to make your own patterns, these stitches can be used in so many ways. Now that you have the tools to stack increases and decreases, you can come up with your own Fox Paws like patterns. It's all about experimenting and finding out what is going to fit together well through trial and error.

Next post, I'll talk a little about my swatching process and show a few techniques for creating great stripe motifs with stacked increases and decreases.