I’ve seen videos (I think two from yarnsub.com) and TECHknitter has a blog entry about how to make SSks look better. They all boil down to get more yarn into the second slipped stitch and less in the first. Someone does the same thing I do in a slightly different way and did a photo tutorial and gave me permission to share. It is so much less complicated. HTH someone.
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Excellent photos, GG!
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That is awesome Grumpy!! Thanks!
I wish I could have done the tutorial. It really does work!
Isn’t this stitch what they used to call Ktog tbl, a term which always brought much mirth.
Gillian
Thanks so much for this improved technique. So much easier with clear examples!!
No, it’s not the same though some people do use k2tog tbl instead. That makes a twisted stitch and ssk doesn’t. If that’s what someone does and it works for them, that’s cool. Since I learned ssk from the start it’s habit and now doing it this way is automatic.
I’m missing something, why much mirth? 
You give people a long explanation of what you’d do all the time if you were knitting Combined. Even if a person does not use the method constantly, it has really improved my knitting as to see how to handle stitches, when to use one mount over the other. It makes my knitting more a matter of choice and not so much a hobby as a growing skillset. However one may say that they want to knit only for relaxation – but when it does not come out right, it takes that inner peace we find from knitting, away, doesn’t it? Ah, to think is what it is to be human, not just a human knitting machine. We try to make knitting more simple so that it is great for beginners, I am glad that a pro like you can makes it look simple.
I also find that the success to SSK and K2Tog is sometimes in the row before, to even slip the second stitch which needs to hide perfectly. Or knit the stitch below in the opposite stitch mount. Even tension is good most of the time except when we need to give a stitch more tension. Knowing how to do that and when, comes with experience. Sometimes I find I knit with the opposite hand or do something on the backside but then knit backwards to see what I am doing and the stitch looks much better.
Very often I’ve watched a tutorial and thought I remembered how to do it because I did not participate and do the knit along. The repetition of doing something over and over again is how we put what we need often (but not every single minute), into muscle memory and pattern recognition. It is the reason we wrote our spelling words 20 times and then used them in sentences. It is a method we need to learn and if that is how we learned as a child, let me tell you, it works yet even though I am 64.
So one laughs as if you have searched your purse and could not find your keys, dumped it all out and find, yes, they were in there in a piece of the lining which folded over on itself. One laughs which is the same for others “ah-ha!” They say, “of course, it is so plain, how did I miss it!”.
But I would encourage others to learn more about knitting, a bit every week, give some time to explore making cables or lace or entrelac or having to use double pointed needles. All this improves your overall skillset. Do you always have something to show for your work which is a sweater finished or afghan done or a shawl finished? No, but there is still a good feeling that says: I did master that – like short rows which used to give me fits which is also all about hiding stitches we don’t want to be so obvious.
Thank you for the love you shower on us. It took time to take those pictures. You deserve two-thumbs up for that one.
I can’t take credit for the pictures. Someone else did them.