Decreasing stitches on dishcloth

#1

I replied to the original post but then I thought I should post it in the questions.
I’m just a beginner and am too having difficulty with this pattern. It’s the diagonal with an eyelet edge. I’m wondering if the pattern is not correct, I got it online.
The decrease says only to K2, YO, K2tog, however that does not decrease the same as the increases and ends up not a square but way out of shape. I’ve tried K2, YO, K2tog, then another K2tog, I’m wondering if I need to K2, K2tog, YO, K2tog on one side then do I need to Ssk, YO, Ssk on the other side to get the slants right and left?
Thanks for any help.

#2

Often the instructions for this kind of dishcloth look like this:
K2, yo, k2tog, knit until you are 4 stitches from the end of the row, then k2tog and k2. Turn and repeat this on every row. This gives you decreases on each side and continues the eyelet pattern.

#3

That makes sense, I guess I missed the K2tog at the end, I had tried the K2tog in the middle, I tried YO at the end also but it just wasn’t working.
Thanks so much!

#4

I’m think doing that dishcloth as well (though mine is so stiff I may have to repurpose it).

I didn’t think the loopovers looked out of place, but I didn’t like the way the second K2tog tilted the row. So I tried threading those two stitches onto another needle and reversing their order, and that looked better, once I figured out the right way to twist it. Is there a name for that trick?

#5

You might have done a ssk (see the decreases page) where you slip 2 sts knitwise separately, then knit them together. It slants to the left generally, while a k2tog slants to the right.

#6

Ah, that makes sense.
And to the OP, you might try finding needles with a longer taper. I started with some short blunt tips that were hard to handle two stitches, but found ones with a more gradual point and that made it easier.

#7

This is the one I followed when I learned. The decreases work fine with the double k2tog on one side.
http://www.groupepp.com/dishbout/kpatterns/grfavorite.html

When I was looking for the above link I came across this one for a heart shaped cloth. Just thought it was good timing since yesterday was Valentine’s Day so I thought I’d share. :teehee: