WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
Right leaning decreases--knit 2 together (k2tog)--are neat and tidy. But on line, I read complaints that left leaning decreases are not. The main left leaning decrease is slip slip, knit (ssk) and the main complaint is ssk is sloppy, not a good match for k2tog. (Click HERE for sketch illustrations of both.) So, today starts a series on right and left leaning decreases, with a focus on improving the left leaning ones.Today's post is the first of four. It provides background material about k2tog, showing what, exactly, about this right leaning decrease does make it so neat and tidy. The second in the series examines two left leaning decreases: ssk and an older left leaning decrease called "slip 1, knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over" (psso). It shows what it is about these left-leaners that makes then not so neat and tidy. Third in this series, a new trick for a left-leaning decrease called SYTK (slip, yank, twist, knit) which is a better match for k2tog. Fourth, another improved left-leaner called the crochet-hook method.
CAVEAT
That loose ssk (or psso) might not be as bad as you think. Knitting while you're creating it doesn't always look like knitting once you're wearing it. Loose, bumpy left decreases on the needles eventually even out to look more like tight, tidy right leaners, while right leaning decreases relax to bring appearances even closer. They'll never be identical, but will be closer than they look at the moment of creation. As the Elizabeth Zimmerman noted in the opening pages of her book Knitting without Tears:"I used to think that people in the Olden Days were marvelously even knitters, because all really ancient sweaters are so smooth and regular. Now I realize that they probably knitted just as I do, rather erratically, and that it is Time, the Great Leveler, which has wrought the change--Time and many washings."So, if not inclined to seek out better left leaning decreases, you'll find that ssk (or psso, or any other method of left-leaning decrease) do improve with age.
IF, HOWEVER, ignoring lumpy bumps isn't for you, or if you like to fool around with stitches, here we go...
WHY DECREASES "LEAN"
Knitting, as you know, is connected in the rows AND in the columns. You can rip it out row-wise, or you can create runs by ripping it out column-wise. This means that anything you do to any knitted stitch in any given row not only has the potential to affect the stitches on either side of it in that row, but also has the potential to affect the column in which that stitch lies. In fact, it is the column effect of stacked decreases which is the most eye-catching --isolated single decreases can be done any old way, really, without making much of a difference to the finished fabric.Used in pairs, or in matching columns, right leaning decreases and left leaning decreases are meant to be twins. And, in a purely mechanical sense, they are. Each performs the same function in mirror image. Either type of decrease removes one stitch from the knitted fabric, eliminating one column of stitches so there is now one column of stitches where two columns were before. In the illustration below, a right leaning decrease causes two bright green columns to become one dark green column, while a left leaning decrease causes two bright blue columns become one dark blue column.
Just at the spot where the two columns are bridged to become one, the little scar of the actual decrease appears (stitches outlined in red). This scar marks the two stitches bridging over the two old columns. The topmost red-outlined stitch must slant either right (green) or left (blue) causing the resulting fabric to look as if the left column leaned over and ate the right column or vice versa.
When these little decrease scars are stacked atop one another, a pattern appears: the column in which the decrease consistently lies appears to be eating all the columns slanting away below it. This is the familiar line of decreases which provides the spiral shaping to bottom-up hat crowns, the lines of decrease on either side of a bottom-up raglan shouldered sweater, or v-neck or the decreases of a top-down sleeve, knit down towards the cuff. |
| Sharp-eyed geeks who think the sweater must be a hybrid are correct. Ordinarily, sweaters don't combine bottom-up decreased raglan shoulders and v-neck with top-down decreased sleeves, but you get the idea... |
A continuous line of right leaning decreases are easy to make, and look lovely and tidy as they slant off rightwards with no sloppy malformed stitches. Right leaning decreases are the good twin--the column of the decrease features regular, even stitches. The only difference between the right-leaning decrease column and the surrounding columns is its slant--the actual stitches of the decrease column and the surrounding fabric look the same. In fact, in a right leaning decrease column, the stitches are generally so even that is difficult to tell which of the stitches is in the actual decrease row, and which in the "plain" spacer row(s) between.
By contrast, the stitches in a column of left-leaning decreases look different than the surrounding stitches, and not just because of the slant. These stitches are looser and sloppier--its easy to tell which is the decrease row and which the plain row(s) between--the decrease row sports eye-catching loose loops of yarn. In comparison to right leaning decreases, left leaning decreases are the evil twin.
Per above, the situation is actually worst just at the moment of creation. It isn't actually all that bad once the garment's been worn and washed a few times. Yet, there's still plenty of room for improvement, so let's start by looking at the just what it is about the good twin which does make it neat and tidy.
THE MECHANICS OF A RIGHT-LEANING DECREASE
To make the right leaning decrease called knit 2 together (k2tog) the right needle inserts "knitwise" (from left to right) into the second stitch (green) on the left needle, and then threads through the first stitch (red) on the left needle, also knitwise, as shown below. This leaves the two stitches on the tip of the left needle impaled knitwise on the right needle, as shown below.
The running yarn is brought into position to create the next stitch and the red and green stitch are knit together from this position, with the green stitch which caps the leftmost column on top. The green and red stitches are knitted together with the new stitch (blue). Because the green stitch from the left column is on top, it appears that the left column leaned over to the right and ate up the rightmost column, shown below.
Let's think about that sequence again. To make a right leaning decrease, the stitch (red) which lay on the very tip of the left needle was squeezed to the back of the fabric as the second stitch (green) overlaid it. In other words, when the two stitches were knitted together, that first red stitch was forced to the back for all time, as the second, dominant green stitch came to the front of the fabric. If you take the time to knit a quick k2tog right now, turn it to look at the back (reverse stockinette side) of the fabric. There's a surprisingly large lump where the excess yarn from the first stitch (red) now lays on the back of the fabric. Closer examination shows the bulk of this second stitch has been squeezed to the back of the fabric. Turn your k2tog over again, and there on the front fabric face, the right arm of the second stitch stitch (green) lays very near to the surface of the knitted fabric. The first red stitch has been so thoroughly squeezed backwards that very little of it comes between the right arm of the second (green) stitch and the fabric surface. In sum, what makes a k2tog tidy is that the back red stitch has been efficiently "disappeared," with the bulk from its disappearance thoroughly squeezed to the back fabric face. This leaves very little evidence of a transition between the surrounding fabric and the green stitch, which now lays smooth and slanted on the front fabric face.
Nothing in this post changes anything about the way to knit 2 together. Rather, it highlights which features of a k2tog do need to be matched, in order to make a left leaning decrease its true twin. We'll start next time with just what doesn't match in the left-leaning ssk and psso.
Nothing in this post changes anything about the way to knit 2 together. Rather, it highlights which features of a k2tog do need to be matched, in order to make a left leaning decrease its true twin. We'll start next time with just what doesn't match in the left-leaning ssk and psso.
--TK
You have been reading TECHknitting on "right leaning decreases (k2tog)."
The other posts in this series are
You have been reading TECHknitting on "right leaning decreases (k2tog)."
