Left decreases, the evil twin--part 2 of right and left leaning decreases

includes 8 illustrations
This is the second in a 4-part series about right and left leaning decreases. The most common RIGHT LEANING DECREASE (knit 2 together) was covered in the first post. Today's post is about the two most common LEFT LEANING DECREASES: slip 1, knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over (psso) and slip, slip, knit (ssk).

Today's post is in two parts.

• The first part is a simple tutorial about how to make psso and ssk.
  
• The second part explains just what it IS about psso and ssk that makes them so sloppy looking (and so different looking from right leaning decreases).
  

After today's post, the background stuff will be out of the way, and TECHknitting will turn to 2 new ways to make left leaning decreases.

PART 1--TUTORIAL on PSSO and SSK

To make PSSO, there are three steps:

1. (below). Slip the first stitch (red) at the tip of your left needle onto your right needle KNITWISE (left arm forward)

2. (below) Knit the next stitch (green). The result will be two stitches on your right needle--the one you slipped (red) and the one you just knit (blue). Insert the tip of your LEFT needle under the left arm of the red stitch (in other words, so the stitch is not twisted) and lift the red stitch over the blue stitch and drop the red stitch from your needle. (The blue stitch stays on your right needle)

3. (below) This is the final result, after the red stitch has been lifted over the blue stitch: only the blue stitch remains on the needle--one stitch where there were two before. The red stitch has been pulled to lie on top of the green stitch, and the slant of the red stitch (leftwards) dominates the decrease.

To make SSK, there are three steps:

1. (below) Ssk starts the same way as psso: you slip the first stitch (red) at the tip of your left needle onto your right needle KNITWISE (left arm forward)

2. (below). For the second step of ssk, you slip the next stitch (green) from left to right needle the same way--KNITWISE, left arm forward. Then, you flick the standing yarn over your right needle, and knit the two stitches together from this position.

3. (below) Here is the final result: The blue stitch is pulled (knitted) through the red and green stitches. Just like psso, only the blue stitch remains on the needle, leaving one stitch where there were two before. The red stitch has been pulled to lie on top of the green stitch, and the slant of the red stitch (leftwards) dominates the decrease.

PART 2--WHY LEFT LEANING DECREASES LOOK SO FUNNY
(COMPARING LEFT AND RIGHT LEANING DECREASES)

OK, so now we're ready to talk about the two main reasons why left leaning decreases are all bumpy and slouchy. First, If you look at the diagrams for both psso AND ssk, you'll see that you are manipulating the FIRST STITCH on the needle--the red one. You're manhandling it pretty severely, actually. In both psso and ssk, you grab that red stitch and stretch it out as you slip it from left needle to right needle. This draws extra yarn into that first stitch as the surrounding stitches play "pass-along." In other words, by sliding the first stitch from one needle to another, yarn that would ordinarily lie in surrounding stitches gets pulled up into the loop of the red stitch.

Second, you're changing the orientation of the red stitch--when it was first knitted (assuming you're not a combination knitter) it lay RIGHT arm forward. Slipping that first red stitch KNITWISE makes it lay LEFT arm forward. At the point where the orientation changes from right-arm-forward stitches to left-arm-forward stitches, for various esoteric reasons, slack develops in the yarn. (If you have an interest in yarn orientation, a lot more detail will eventually be posted when TECHknitting addresses "combination knitting.") For right now, suffice it to say that the change in orientation draws even more yarn into the first (red) stitch, in both psso and ssk.

Compare this sequence with k2tog. In k2tog, the top stitch is the SECOND stitch (green stitch), and it is never manhandled at all--it is never pulled up loose, never passed from needle to needle, and its orientation is never changed. (Click here for diagram, click here from more info on k2tog.) The stitch behind the top stitch (the red stitch in the k2tog diagram) never has a chance to pass any slack yarn along to the green stitch--that red stitch is nailed down behind the green stitch in a 1 step motion--it (and all its excess yarn) gets squeezed behind the green stitch before it ever gets a chance to play pass-along with the green stitch, and the one-step motion of k2tog reduces the opportunity for other stitches to pass along too much yarn, either.

The upshot is that, in left leaning decreases, the multi-step procedure means that the first (red) stitch is drawn up all big and sloppy. Then, even more yarn is delivered to the red stitch by the change in orientation. As you can see from the diagrams, psso is the worse offender--you manhandle that red stitch not just once (passing it from left needle to right) but twice (as you grab it and draw it up big in passing it over the blue stitch).

In both psso and ssk, this bumpy, loose, sloppy red stitch is then left to languish on the surface of the fabric. As the photos below demonstrate, left leaning decreases really are the "evil twin," in looks, at least, when compared to right leaning decreases. As you would expect, the extra manhandling of the top stitch means that psso ends up somewhat looser and sloppier than ssk. Yet, although ssk is somewhat better, it also does not approaches k2tog for tidiness. Here is the photographic evidence:


The upper part of each photo is the right leaning decrease--knit two together (k2tog)--which is included for comparison purposes--nice and even, aren't they? The lower part of the first photo (above) is slip 1, knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over (psso), the lower part of the second picture (below) is slip, slip, knit (ssk). Nice and sloppy, huh?
(Don't be confused that these samples are laid on their sides, that's just for illustration. Each swatch was knit so the cast-on edge is to the right, the cast off edge to the left.)

In sum, you can see for yourself how uneven the stitches are in the left-leaning columns, especially compared to the more even stitches of the right leaning columns. SSK (bottom of second photo) looks somewhat better than psso (bottom of first photo), but neither looks terrific...

(ALTHOUGH, as I said at the beginning of this series, the loose sloppy top stitch in ssk or psso has a tendency to tighten up as the garment is worn and washed. And, as ssk or psso is tightening up in this way, k2tog is loosening up. With wear and blocking, the second stitch that got squeezed behind the first stitch in k2tog eventually manages to give up some of its slack, and the rightward leaning top stitch of k2tog gets a bit sloppier. It's true that ssk an k2tog never look exactly the same, but they look a whole lot more like twins after wearing and a couple of washings than they do when you are first creating them. So, once again, all this stuff about improving your left-leaning decreases is, in some measure, a marker of our right-now culture, where we want everything to be perfect RIGHT AWAY! and RIGHT NOW!)

Ahem! Well, if my little screed about right-now-ism hasn't deterred you, or if you are naturally a perfectionist, or if you just like to fool with stuff, then stay tuned for the next post, which will show the first of two techniques to improve these sloppy, left-leaning decreases. Until then, keep knitting...

--TECHknitter
(You have been reading TECHknitting on "left leaning decreases")

Right decreases, the good twin--part 1 of right and left leaning decreases

Includes 4 illustrations

WELCOME BACK!

Welcome back to TECHknitting. I hope you all had a lovely summer, and that everything you wished for yourselves and your loved ones came true during these past few months. For me, the end of summer means my knitting batteries are recharged and it's back to illustrating knitting tricks for a second season. I hope you'll read along through this upcoming fall and winter, as more tricks desperate to escape my mind try to leap off the screen to infect yours.

WHAT'S the TOPIC?

Traveling through the knitting sector of the blogosphere, I read lots of complaints about left leaning decreases, especially "slip, slip, knit," abbreviated "ssk." A lot of you are complaining that your (left leaning) ssk's are sloppy--you're complaining that they don't look like much like your neat and tidy knit 2 together's (k2tog, right leaning). (Click HERE for sketch illustrations of both.) So, I thought you might like a series on right and left leaning decreases, with a focus on improving the left leaning ones.

Today's post, the first in the series of four, provides background material--it's all about the main right leaning decrease, k2tog. The second in the series will examine ssk as well as the left leaning decrease called "slip 1, knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over" (psso). The third and fourth posts will have illustrations and instructions for two new ways to make left-leaning decreases.

A CAVEAT

One thing before I dig in. The fact is, that loose ssk (or psso) might not be as bad as you think. Knitting while you are creating it doesn't always look a whole lot like knitting once you are wearing it. Those loose, bumpy, left leaning decreases on your needles will eventually even out and look a great deal more like the tight and tidy right leaning decreases you admire, while the right leaning decreases will relax to bring the appearances even closer. The appearance won't be identical, but it'll be a whole lot closer than it is on the needles. As the great Elizabeth Zimmerman put it in the opening pages of her magnificent 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."

I am quoting the greatest-knitter-of-us-all to absolve you if you aren't inclined to wrap your mind around all the complications I am going to dig into. If you can live with ssk (or psso, or any other method of left-leaning decrease you know) then you will find that these left-leaning decreases only improve with age. If you choose to, you will be justified in resolutely ignoring the lumpy left-leaning decreases on your needles, knowing that in the fullness of time, they WILL look better--and you can skip the rest of this post and read a different blog for today.

IF, HOWEVER, you're still with me, if ignoring lumpy bumps isn't in your nature, or if you just like to fool around with things, 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 (outlined in red). This scar marks the two stitches bridging over the two old columns. The topmost 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 a hat crown knitted bottom-up, the decreasing diameter of a sleeve knit from shoulder to cuff, the lines of decrease on either side of a raglan shouldered sweater knitted bottom-up, or the line on either side of a v-neck knitted bottom-up. (The sweater below is clearly a mutant: regardless of whether it was knit top-down or bottom-up, some of the shaping lines (red) would have had to be knit as stacked increases, not decreases, but I think you get the idea...)
A continuous line of right leaning decreases are easy to make, and they 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 stitches of the decrease column and the stitches in 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" row(s) in between the decrease rows.

By contrast, the stitches of the column in which a left-leaning decrease appears look different than the surrounding stitches, and not just because of the slant. The stitches in a left-leaning decrease column are looser and sloppier--its easy to tell which is the decrease row and which the plain row(s) between decreases--the decrease row is the one sporting bumpy loose eye-catching yarn loops. In comparison to right leaning decreases, left leaning decreases are the evil twin.

As stated above, the situation is actually worst just at the moment you are knitting the left-leaning decrease--it isn't actually all that much of a difference once the garment has been worn and washed a few times. But if this aspect of knitting is still driving you "knuts," then to solve this problem, we'll start by looking at the good twin, right leaning decreases.

THE MECHANICS OF A RIGHT-LEANING DECREASE

To make the right leaning decrease called knit 2 together (k2tog) you insert your right needle "knitwise" (from left to right) into the second stitch (green) on your left needle, and then thread it through the first stitch (red) on your left needle, also knitwise, as shown below. This leaves the two stitches on the tip of your left needle impaled on knitwise on your right needle, as shown below.
The standing 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, as 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. You will see a surprisingly large lump where the excess yarn from the first stitch (red) now lays on the back of the fabric. Closer examination shows that very much of the bulk of this second stitch has been squeezed to the back of the fabric. Turn your k2tog over again to expose the fabric face, and you will see that the right arm of the second stitch stitch (green) lays very near to the surface of the knitted fabric--that 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. The red stitch has been "disappeared."

None of what you've just read is going to change anything about the way you knit k2tog. The real point of this post was to provide the background for the next post. The next post is about the mechanics of slip, slip, knit (ssk) and slip 1, knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over (psso). Until next time...

--TECHknitter
You have been reading TECHknitting on "right leaning decreases (k2tog)."

Unexpected delay

Fortunately, everything is fine here at chez TECH (and many thanks to those who have written to inquire!) However, due to unexpected delay in managing the non-knitting parts of life, TECHknitting will, regretfully NOT resume right after Labor day, but will resume instead on September 20.

Stay tuned for 2 new ways to create beautiful left-leaning increases.

Have a good rest of the summer, and knit on.

--TECHknitter

Gauge, again--a cautionary tale

Dear readers: here is a little summer interlude in the nature of a cautionary tale. TECH- knitting's summer break has allowed time to knit on a big project--a sweater. The body is made with a circular needle, but the arms with dpn's. I forgot, but now remember (the hard way!!) that gauge can change EVEN when you use the same size needles. Knitting with dpn's requires the gauge to be tight enough to prevent the needles falling out of the work, while knitting around with circulars does not present the same issue--you can knit a lot looser because the circular needles aren't going anywhere. Moral of the story: Check your gauge when you switch from one kind of needle to another, regardless of whether the two needles are the same size. That way, you can avoid being an idiot like me--who had to knit a three-armed sweater.

--TECHknitter

Closed for the season

Sometimes, life gets in the way of knitting. Thankfully, all is well at chez TECH, but I need to now turn away for 6 weeks or so, and devote some significant time taking care of the non-bloggy parts of life. Despite my intentions, I may not be able to stay away from the blogosphere--you all are rather addictive! So, there may be a stray post or two between now and the beginning of September. Mostly, though, TECHknitting will resume right after Labor Day with new tricks and tips--including TWO NEW WAYS to do beautiful left-leaning decreases.

See you all again in September. Until then, have a great summer, and knit on.

--TECHknitter

Part 3 of working ends in with a sewing needle: weaving ribbing

I thought I was done with ends forever, but evidently not quite yet. By e-mail and comment, there have been several requests for a diagram of weaving-in ends along a column in ribbing. Without further ado, here it is:--TECHknitter

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PS:  Here is a link to a post with 10 (!)  different methods of working in ends in knitting, eight of which are "as you go."
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You have been reading TECHknitting on: "weaving in ends in ribbing")

Part 2 of working in ends with a sewing needle: weaving

This post lays out the very last method in the recent series about working in your ends, a method called "weaving in." Weaving in ends has to be one of the only finishing techniques better done from the front of the work than from the back. The reason? If you work from the front, you can be sure that your tail is well and truly hidden. If you work from the back, you can be sure you're making a lovely back, but you can't be sure you're making a lovely front.

Weaving is a form of duplicate stitch--the threaded needle follows the path of the underlaying yarn, as shown in the two illustrations below. Because you want to follow the path of the yarn, not split the yarn, you want to use a DULL needle, not a sharp one. (Click here for further information on the two types of sewing needles.) The technique is shown is stockinette, but the theory is the same regardless of the fabric -- use a dull sewing needle to draw the tail yarn along the same path as that taken by the yarn in an underlying row or, in the case of ribbing, an underlying column.

After you've worked the tail in over about 3 or 4 stitches, draw the tail to the back of the fabric, and pull out the needle. Trim the end to a length of couple of inches or so, and leave it hang until you've made up the garment and blocked it. At that point, you can trim the tail to a length of perhaps 1/2 to 1/4 inch, leaving a little "tag" to felt onto the back face of the fabric. After a few futher washings, if the project is woolen, you can clip the tag off.

If the project was knit in a slippery yarn (cotton, linen, acrylic, etc.) then you're best off to leave the little tag-end hanging. If you don't like the look of hanging tag-ends, then another trick for "slippery" yarns is to combine weaving with the other needle-worked method, skimming. In other words, weave the tail for several stitches, then skim it in for a further few stitches. This isn't ideal because you have to use a dull needle for the weaving, and a sharp needle for the skimming, leading to either lots of needle-threading, or lots of cheating, but however you manage it, weaving+skimming really OUGHT to hold.

Desperation move: If weaving+skimming doesn't hold, take out a sewing needle, thread it with a single sewing thread or a single strand of matching embroidery floss, and sew the ends of the darn slippery stuff together--believe it or not, this is the *real* way to secure the ends in ribbon knitting, and the *only* way to secure the ends if you ever knit with a ribbon-covered cord.

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PS:  Here is a link to a post with 10 (!)  different methods of working in ends in knitting, eight of which are "as you go."
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--TECHknitter
(You have been reading TECHknitting on weaving in ends)

Part 1 of working in ends with a sewing needle: the skimming-in method

This whole series of posts started off when various readers wrote to ask about working in ends. As I wrote then, IMHO, the best way to deal with end is not to have any. So far, this blog has shown five different ways to work in ends "as you go:" felting ends, overlap join, Russian join, back join and overcast method. A sixth method, added by Noricum (a reader) is to use the tails for seaming, which also eliminates the need to work in the tail.

And yet, foresight will take you just so far. Sometimes, despite all your ingenuity and tricks, you're going to wind up with an old-fashioned hanging tail that needs to be worked in with a sewing needle.

In May, this blog told you there are two different kinds of sewing needles, sharp and dull. It is possible to work in ends using either kind of needle: a sharp needle (called a "crewel," or "embroidery" needle) is used for SKIMMING, a dull needle (called a "tapestry" or "darner") for WEAVING. The next post will cover weaving, today we'll do skimming.

SKIMMING

(Below) Skimming-in ends is done with a sharp needle. The tail is fastened down as it follows the needle, the needle "skims" though the tops of the purl heads along the fabric back. This really is a case of a picture being worth a thousand (or at least a couple of dozen) words so here it is, illustrated. An aside: after drawing this, I realized that I always work the tail into the row in stockinette, but I'm not really sure why--On further consideration, there's no real reason not to work the tail into the column, just like for ribbing, so if you're inclined, then do it that way.


(Below) For skimming-in ends through ribbing, turn the work inside out, and skim the end up one column of purl stitches, and down another. Because the purl stitches draw further into a ribbed fabric than do the knit stitches, skimming into the purls helps keep your tails invisible from both inside and outside of the fabric--handy when you want to fold your back your cuffs or hat brim. Be sure to work the needle through the very head of the purl stitch, which helps keep the skimming invisible from the front of the ribbing.In both of the above illustrations, the worked-in end takes a u-turn. This is very advisable in a slippery yarn, such as cotton, but could be skipped in wool. Also, these illustrations show the ends worked in, but before they have been adjusted--they are still stretched straight, under the tension imparted by the sewing needle. In real life, you'd stretch this area several times to adjust the tension, and you'd make up the garment and block it before cutting off the tails, giving those ends all the opportunity they need to draw up to their final length (and hopefully, to begin felting into the back face of the fabric).

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PS:  Here is a link to a post with 10 (!)  different methods of working in ends in knitting, eight of which are "as you go."
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--TECHknitter
(You have been reading TECHknitting on: "skimming-in ends with a sewing needle")

Part 4--overview and summary of "working your tails in as you go" in multi-color knitting

Over the last several posts, this blog has laid before you three methods, each of which joins two colors of yarn AND works in the tails "as you go"

• the Russian join,
• the back join and
• the overcast method

Which to use? As is usual in knitting (or life, for that matter) there are advantages and disadvantages--and you must make up your own mind. The Russian join is probably the least favorable--it's hard to make the join come out just where it should, ripping back to add stitches is very difficult, and this join is S*L*O*W.

The back join is more flexible than the Russian join, is faster, and accomplishes the same result. The back join can be modified so it is not quite as bulky as the Russian join.

The overcast method is not bulky, and it is fast, but because the tails aren't folded into the fabric itself with the overcast method, there is less "friction" holding in the tails. The overcast method is not only more delicate-looking, it is actually more delicate--more likely to pull loose than the Russian join or the back join.

It will have occured to you that it is possible to combine methods. A good thing to do in cotton, linen, acrylic or another slippery yarn is to start 8 or 10 stitches away from the join-point, overcast the old yarn to within 3 stitches of the join point, do 3 stitches of back join in the old color, 3 stitches of the back join in the new color, and then 6 or so stitches of overcast in the new color to finish up. (This one WILL hold!)

I like the overcast method in a hairy, thin yarn, like a Shetland wool, (thanks, Ysolda for the link). In this sort of super-holding yarn, tails can be expected to get all the traction required to pin them down from the surrounding stitches, without having to be actually knitted onto the fabric face. And, for thin stripes in thin fabric, like socks, the advantage of not having doubled stitches on the fabric face outweighs the downside of the join being more delicate, at least to my mind.

As the old folks used to say: "you pays your money, and you takes your choice" (but, a swatch will reveal much).

--TECHknitter
(You have been reading TECHknitting on: the overcast method for joining yarns in multi-color knitting.)

A short, sad tale of tails

The last few posts have been all about how to be conscious about ends--how to work them in as you go, so as to eliminate the trouble they cause if left unattended. Ironically, I failed to take my own advice on a new project.

I usually fish around inside of a new skein to find the inside end, so the yarn feeds from inside the ball. With an inside feed, your skein is less likely to be a kitty magnet--every pull won't make your skein jerk and jump around the way an outside feed will. The careful thing to do when you're using an inside feed is to wrap the outside end firmly around the outside of the skein, several times. As you knit, the skein gets smaller; what was once firmly wrapped is now loosely wrapped, so this little wrapping chore has to be done a few times during a project. If you forget to re-wrap, well...a loose end is the devil's plaything. The loose outside end will invariably find and tangle with the inside feed. Fail to keep track of that outside end--as I have done today--and you will have your own sad tale of tails.

This is a new yarn from Brown Sheep called serendipity tweed. On the (minor) downside, the high cotton content of the yarn means tangles are a problem--more like knots in a ball of string than tangles in a woolen skein. On the (major) upside, the cottony content means it doesn't make your hands sweat for summer knitting!

--TECHknitter