M1 Two Ways

I am knitting the Flower Power placemats. Thank you for the idea, Becka, of Whimsical Knitting Designs. The pattern calls for M1 (Make one). Somewhere I had read to M1 you take the horizontal bar between stitches and put it onto the left needle, twisting it to avoid a hole. I found that twisting it was hard, so just started knitting in the back loop and that twisted the stitch. Just now looking online I discovered instructions that say to knit in the back loop.

But there is another way that I think is easier. In the Knitting Answer Book it also tells you to make a cast-on a stitch onto your right needle using the half hitch. When you reach that made stitch on the return row, if the back "leg" is the most forward, just knit into the back. I find this a big quicker than fiddling with lifting that horizontal bar. This second method was credited to Elizabeth Zimmerman.