How to Knit Centered Median Increase (CMI)

10 hours ago2 min read

In this tutorial I'll demonstrate how to knit the decorative CMI or centered median increase featured in the upcoming Lyrides sweater pattern, launching on April 15.

tl;dr It's basically (knit 1, knit 1 below, knit 1) into the same stitch column.

For the Lyrides henley pattern I wanted some type of interesting and decorative increase on the raglan lines. Instead of my usual method of doing strand increases or lifted increases coming from two separate stitches on both sides of the raglan line, this time I wanted a double increase, turning one stitch into three stitches.

The upcoming Lyrides sweater pattern features a column of decorative CMIs in the raglan lines. — The upcoming Lyrides sweater pattern features a column of decorative CMIs at all four raglan lines.

Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top Down (pages 20–21) compares 10 different types of double increases. I swatched and played around with different variations and ultimately settled on the one she's calls "double increase 6". A catchy name if I ever heard one! I've dubbed this increase Centered Median Increase (or CMI for short) because it's similar to the CDI, centered double increase but using a median increase instead of KFB as the center stitch. Roxanne Richardson calls it "double knit below increase" on her video featuring four different types of double increases.

The CMI is also a close relative to the KyoK double increase often used in lace knitting. Compared to the KyoK, instead of having a yarnover as the middle stitch, in the CMI you'll work a median increase (knit below) flanked by two knits, all in the same position. This gives a smaller hole than the yarnover in KyoK but still results in a series of decorative eyelets.

Here's how to do it:

Centered median increase step 1: knit the next stitch but don't drop it off the holding needle.

Step 1. Knit the next stitch but don't drop it off the holding needle just yet.

Now you have one loop coming off of the next stitch. Leaving the stitch into which you just worked on the holding needle makes it easier to see what you're doing in the next step.

Centered median increase step 2: knit the stitch below the next one.

Step 2. Pivot the needle tip down and insert it into the stitch below the next stitch, a narrow gap between two horizontal bars. It might be a little difficult to see, especially in this fuzzy lace-weight silk mohair.

Knitting into the stitch below is the 'M' or the median increase part of the CMI. Again, don't drop the stitch off the holding needle — it'll make the next step easier. Now you have two loops coming off of the same stitch column.

Centered median increase step 3: knit the next stitch again and now drop it off the needle.

Step 3. As the last step, knit the next stitch again, the one that's still on the holding needle. Drop the stitch off the holding needle and now you have three stitches coming off of a single stitch column.

A finished CMI results in a square-shaped eyelet. — Series of centered median increases (CMI) stacked upon each other on every other row.

Whatever you want to call it, when worked on every other row or round the CMI results in a series of decorative, almost square-shaped eyelets separated by two parallel bars. To keep the increases aligned and to get an uninterrupted line of eyelets, make sure to work subsequent CMIs always in the center-most (the stitch marked 2 in step 3 above) of the three stitches from the previous row.

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