Ok, here’s the question. In the pattern I am working on it says to SSK. I am new to knitting and was unsure how to do this so I checked both the glossary in the book and online. They both (glossary and online) said to slip knitwise. However, the Notes at the beginning of the pattern I am doing says to “slip stitches as if to purl throughout pattern”. I have done this for the single slip stitches (s1) but was unsure if I should do this in the combination stitch (SSK).
Thanks for any advice.
Let me know if you need more information.
SSK is a type of decrease. You’re knitting two stitches together. Normally when you knit two together, you will insert the tip of the needle into two stitches at once in the front of the needles from left to right. With an SSK, you’ll insert the needle into both stitches in the back of the stitches from right to left, then draw the yarn through both loops.
What’s the difference? In a regular knit two together, the stitches will lean to the right. In an SSK, the stitches will lean to the left. You will understand this when you knit a pair of mittens. It leaves a nice line in the round shaping at the top. Here’s what it would look like on mitten shaping:
K2together //// \\SSK.
left side right side
of mitten of mitten
You knit the type of decreases the pattern calls for in the places it specifies, then do the slip stitches on all the other stitches.
Don’t feel bad. I’ve been knitting for many years and just figured out the decreases last fall. I’ve been knitting mittens for charity this winter. When you’re doing decreases for mittens, you will knit the first stitch, then do the ssk decrease at the right edge. You will knit straight until you get to three stitches from the left edge, k2tog, then knit the last stitch. You never make decreases on the first or last two stitches. It makes a ragged looking edge.
When you slip sts in a decrease, you slip them knitwise or they’ll be twisted. Slipping purlwise is when you do them at the beginning of a row or if the sts won’t be worked again on the same row. Since you work the sts again for a decrease, you slip them knitwise. A ssk is the same as sl 1, k1, psso where you also slip that stitch knitwise.