I am very new to knitting. I’ve actually learned the basics through this website. I’ve watched the video on how to decrease (SSK) and it’s quite simple. I understand fully of what to do…however, I’m having problems and can’t figure out why. After I bring the yarn around to knit what I’ve slipped, the yarn is so tight around the needles that I can’t pull it back through to knit the slipped ones. No matter how loose I do it, it still doesn’t work and ends up being too tight to knit. I was wondering if anyone has had this problem, or knows what to do to correct it. They do it so seamlessly on the video, and my stiches look the same as theirs. What am I doing wrong?
Hi and welcome to KH!
When you slip the two sts to work the ssk is your working yarn in the front of your work? Is that when you go to bring the yarn around? When you work the ssk the working yarn should be in the back as if you are getting ready to knit :think:
Did you slip the stitches knitwise or purlwise? If you did it purlwise that will be a problem as tightness was what I got when I slipped the purlwise and tried to knit them. Try slipping them knitwise.
I’m slipping them knitwise (just like I would take them off as if I were knitting them) After I slipped the stitches, I put the needle from my left hand through the slipped ones to were the right hand needle is behind the left…right? Then I’m bringing the yarn in between the two needles. Could the tightness be from doing the ssk while knitting the first row directly after cast on? I was just doing it like that because I’m not doing a project just yet, and was just practicing the stitches. Maybe I should knit a few rows before I try the decrease.
You are basically knitting the two together through the back loop after they’ve been slipped. If that’s what you’re doing then you’re doing it correctly.
It could be doing it after the cast on so knit a few rows and try it again.