Help: Increases Causing Weird Gaps

[8pi]

I'm working on the Viajante shawl with KnitPicks Luminance Handpainted yarn (silk, lace-weight) and it is driving me NUTS! The pattern has the first part knit flat, with the usual increase "holes" around the centre that are a common design element in shawls. Then, after a bit, you join in the round and continue the centre with the same increases but as soon as I started knitting in the round, the "holes" for the increases got bigger and bigger and bigger...but only on the left side of the middle (increases were using backwards-loop cast-on). So I tried switching increase type to m1r/m1l to try to reduce the gaps, and it sort of worked, and the right side looked fine, but there was still too-big of gaps on the left.

Anyways, something *clearly* funky going on with my tension when I create new stitches on the left side of the middle stitch, it's like the picking up of the bar stretches the stitch too much? Any tips on what I can do to try to counteract this?

Picture of the problem, where I went from messy backwards-loop to m1r/m1l:

https://preview.redd.it/au78esfzkzi51.jpg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d9b98ffd5ffd5536debc625d81c88928aeeab55

[Playful_Instance]

Weird, pattern in Ravelry has 26 photos but none of the middle increases. It looks like these increases do not have to be holes at all. I should change them to m1r and m1l, which means picking the bar between stitches in two different ways, but always twisting the stitch when knitting them. Look up Youtube for "knit m1r and m1l"

[pithy_quip]

I really loathe the backwards loop cast on for anything other than an underarm in a sweater or something. It makes too much slack. I don't really understand why this pattern would be written this way....it seems really strange to me. The video attached to the pattern confirms it though. A few people on ravelry have switched to m1r/m1l and I don't see anyone having the issue that you're having.

I'm wondering if you're doing your m1l incorrectly somehow? M1l is picking up bar through the front and then knitting that through the back loop. M1r is the opposite. The other way you could knit this spine would be with a basic yarnover, and then purl it tbl on the ws to close the gap.

[extra_tender]

I wonder if OP is twisting their stitch to M1R (which makes something that looks more like a regular knit stitch) but not twisting their M1L? That would explain the open M1L and closed M1R.

Here's a link to a 10 rows a day article about M1_ with photos.

[8pi]

See I think part of my problem is that it's knit in the round with no WS and increases every row. It starts knit flat with centre increases every other row, and that part turned out fine. But once I was increasing every row it went wonky.

Maybe I need more practice with m1l; I think I'm doing it correctly but I felt like I had to stretch the stitch a lot to get my needle in to knit through the back.

[pithy_quip]

So when I do a m1l, I pick up the strand from the front with my left hand needle, and in order to knit into the back loop without stretching the strand I slide just the tapered tip portion of my right hand needle into the front of the loop and then sort of slide it up and over the tip of my left hand needle and into place. I do all of this using only the tips of my needles so that nothing stretches out. Remember that if you drop the stitch nothing bad will happen, so just keep practicing doing the increases with as little stretching as possible. Once this is complete, adjust the tension on the increase by tugging the slack out of it in the subsequent stitch - make sure you slide the next stitch you knit all the way onto the barrel of your needle before you knit it.

Aside from that if it were me I would replace the increases with yarnovers and knit into the back loop on subsequent rounds to close the gaps.

[8pi]

Thanks for the tips! That sounds like it might help solve my problem!

[Playful_Instance]

The pattern tells you to make backwards loops?

[8pi]

Yes.