Recently while I was browsing through Instagram. I saw a video about left leaning decreases. It showed a technique that I had never seen before. I thought I should share it here, in case any of you had never seen it before either.
I’m going to review the two common left leaning decreases that I usually use before introducing the variation that I saw.
SSK
The first left leaning decrease that I learned was the SSK (slip, slip, knit). However, I have always been little bit dissatisfied with it. The stitch just doesn’t look as nice as the right-leaning K2Tog (knit two together) stitch. Especially in my sock projects, I feel like one side of my sock gusset always looks a bit less tidy as the other.
SKP
As an alternative to the SSK, I have occasionally used the SKP (slip, knit, pass the slipped stitch over). Although I’d like to imagine it is a superior stitch to the SSK, I just don’t notice that much of a difference. I still think it doesn’t look quite as nice as its right leaning counterpart.
New Technique Alert!
Here comes this new technique that I saw. I’m not sure if it has an official name. But really it is just a slight variation of the SSK stitch. It goes as follows: slip the first stitch knit wise, then slip the second stitch purl wise, then knit them through the back loops.
The knitter in the video (unfortunately I forgot to write down their account) knit an SSK and this new technique side-by-side. I much preferred the look of this new stitch, so I just had to learn it.
I thought it might be helpful to create a video that compares all three of the left leaning decreases. Watch the video here:
Did you already know this left leaning decrease technique? Which of the three stitches that I mention here is your favourite to use? I think it is so great that I can still learn exciting new techniques after so many years of knitting. There is always something left to learn.
