KFB or knit front and back

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KFB or knit front and back is a method of increasing your number of stitches by one and involves knitting into a single stitch twice.  You are likely to find this abbreviation used when there is shaping required, for example on sleeves of a jumper, although it is also sometimes used in creating a textured fabric.  

How to do a kfb (knit front and back)

There are two steps to completing an kfb;

1. insert the right hand needle into the front loop of the next stitch on the left hand needle, warp the yarn around the tip and pull through as you would if you were doing a normal knit stitch but do not slip the original stitch off the left hand needle,
2. reinsert the tip of the right hand needle into the back loop of the same original stitch and form a second knit stitch before slipping that original stitch off the left hand needle.

Note: these instructions assume that you are right handed...

Variations on a kfb

1. Instead of knitting into the front and back loops of the stitch, you can also add an extra stitch by knitting into the front loop, bringing the yarn to the front of the work (without slipping the original stitch off the needle) and then forming a purl stitch in the front loop alongside the knit stitch.  
2. To increase the number of stitches by two instead of three you can kpk (knit, purl, knit) into a single stitch.  to do that you follow the instructions in above to form a knit stitch followed by a purl stitch, but before you slip the original stitch off the left hand needle, you take the yarn back to the back of your work (under the tip of the right hand needle) and form one more knit stitch in the same loop.

And a purl version...

The purl version is slightly different but has the same effect.  To do this type of increase on a purl row you insert the tip of your working needle into the back loop of the next stitch and form a purl stitch.  Then without slipping the original stitch off the needle you insert the tip into the front loop of the same stitch and form a second purl stitch before slipping that original stitch off the resting needle.