This started out as a visual description of the SSK process.  I read the term for the first time quite a while ago in the Barbara Walker books and while I understood that it was a decrease, I couldn’t for the life of me understand how it was done.  I’d get as far as slipping the stitches and inserting the left needle and I’d run into this: “Knit these two stitches together from this position”

Hunh?  I can’t knit from this position!  It’s backwards!

This probably tells you more about how my mind works (or doesn’t) than you wanted to know.  I’m middlin’ bright and I can figure out most things.  But this one had me stumped for a very long time.

So I wanted to provide something visual in case there were other knitters out there like me who couldn’t make sense of the written description.  And then it seemed if I was going to do that, I might as well do the basic decreases in general.  Who knows - it might be useful to someone.

Knit two Together

Knit two together (K2tog)

This decrease slants to the right.  You do it exactly as you would knit one stitch only instead of inserting the right needle into the first stitch on the left needle, you insert it into the first and second.  Then you knit them together as though they were a single stitch.

Slip, Slip, Knit

Slipping the first stitch

This decrease is called slip-slip-knit (SSK).  Insert the right needle into the first stitch on the left needle as though you were going to knit it - but don’t knit it.  Just slip it over onto the right needle.  Do this again with the next stitch on the left needle.  It’s important to move these stitches one at a time.  If you pick them up and move them together, the finished decrease won’t look quite right.

This process move two stitches over, twisting them so they’ll lie properly when the procedure is finished and sets you up for the next step.

Inserting the left needle

Hold the left needle in front of the work and insert it, from front to back, into the first two stitches on the right needle (the ones you moved).

Bringing the yarn over

Bring your yarn over and down between the right and left needles.  In the picture, the right needle is at the back.

Completing the SSK

Now just lift the two stitches over the yarn, up and off the right needle.

And there you have it!  A left-leaning decrease!

Slip one, Knit one, Pass the slipped stitch over

There is another common, older, decrease method that also slants to the left.  It’s the “slip one-knit one-pass the slipped stitch over” technique.  This may show up in your patterns in a couple of guises: SKP (slip-knit-pass) or sl1-k1-psso.  You start by slipping a stitch, just as with the previous technique but you’re only slipping one stitch this time.  Then knit the next stitch.

P’ing the ss over :)

Insert the tip of the left needle into the slipped stitch (which is on the right needle behind the stitch you just knitted).  Carefully lift it up and over the knit stitch and drop it off the right needle.  Decrease complete.

Most modern instructions direct you to use the SSK method for a left-leaning decrease.  I have found both methods useful under various circumstances.  Play with them and see which suits your knitting style and which is more pleasing to your eye.

Opposing decreases

In the circle is a pair of stitches.  The one on the left is a K2tog - it leans to the right.  The one on the right is the SSK and you can see (I hope) that it leans to the left.  Many patterns, lace especially, take advantage of the directional tendencies of these decreases.  No, you won’t be struck by lightening if you use one or the other exclusively - you want a decrease and all three of these methods give you that result.  But using one or the other in the right place can yield a more symmetric fabric and may be more pleasing to the eye.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!