After making darts in my poor old red cardigan, the next step was to lengthen the sweater. I picked up stitches along the original hem and knitted down, adding pleats in front and back.
Pleats can be a real mind-bender. The box pleat in back was easy enough. The hard part was to understand the knife-edge pleats in the front. They were meant to be symmetrical, so one set had to fold to the right, and the other set to the left.
I had to fold a strip of paper to help me visualize the pleats. I wrote many notes and arrows and stitch numbers on it. Once the basic plan was in my head, I got started, only to be flummoxed again when I turned to work across the back. Finally there were enough rows to show the folds of the pleat, and then it was easier.
Wow! Pleats add a lot of stitches!