Read Knitting Patterns with Decreases

The Dec instruction in a Knitting Pattern

If you read a knitting pattern with Dec in the instructions, how do you know what kind of decrease to do?

The answer can differ based on the type of project you are making.

Occasionally, the pattern designer will tell you what to do. But more often than not, you're on your own.

Here is some information about decreases in knitting, and in particular, a decrease in which two stitches on the old needle become one stitch on the new needle. (Double decreases, where three stitches become one, will not be covered in this article.)

Knitting Decreases Slant

When you examine a decrease carefully, you will see one of two results: either the right stitch covers the left stitch (making a left-leaning decrease), or the left stitch covers the right stitch (making a right-leaning decrease).

So if you are looking for symmetry (say in armhole shaping for a sweater, or in some lace patterns), then you probably want one of each type.

The most commonly used right-leaning Knit decrease is the K2tog (Knit 2 stitches together).

Here are the two most commonly used left-leaning Knit decreases:

• SKP (Slip 1 stitch knitwise, Knit 1 stitch, Pass the slipped stitch over the knitted stitch)
  
• SSK (Slip 1 stitch knitwise, Slip another stitch knitwise (don't do both at the same time), Slip both stitches purlwise back onto the old needle, then knit the two stitches together through the back loops)

Purl-based decreases are uncommon, but they do occur.

The most commonly used left-leaning Purl decrease is the P2tog (Purl 2 stitches together).

There are two commonly used right-leaning Purl decreases:

• P2togtbl (Purl 2 stitches together through back loops).
  
• SSP (Slip 1 stitch knitwise, Slip another stitch knitwise (don't do both at the same time), Slip both stitches purlwise back onto the old needle, then purl the two stitches together through the back loops)
  

Decreases in a Sweater Knitting Pattern

Now we have identified the usual decreases for knitting. Now what?

When you are working the armhole or sleeve cap shaping for a sweater, the pattern writer will just say "Dec 1 stitch at each end of row nnn".

So, as a general rule, do the following:

• On the right side: Knit 1 stitch, SSK or SKP, work in the stitch pattern for the sweater until 3 stitches remain, K2tog, Knit the last stitch.
  
• On the wrong side: Purl 1 stitch, P2tog, work in the stitch pattern for the sweater until 3 stitches remain, SSP or P2togtbl, Purl the last stitch.
  

If you follow that general rule, you will get a nice diagonal line of decreases where the armhole is shaped.



If you do not want that diagonal line (because it might look strange with the characteristics of the main stitch pattern for the sweater), then the following suggestions will actually hide the decreases:

• On the right side: K2tog, work in the stitch pattern for the sweater until 2 stitches remain, SSK or SKP.
  
• On the wrong side: SSP or P2togtbl, work in the stitch pattern for the sweater until 2 stitches remain, P2tog.
  

There are three basic differences between these sets of guidelines:

1. Different types of decreases are worked at opposite ends of the knitted fabric.
   
2. In the first set of instructions, the decreases are worked one stitch from the edge; in the second, they are worked right at the edge.
   
3. In the first set of guidelines, the diagonal slant of the decreases is quite visible; in the second, the decreases are almost invisible.
   

Decreases in Lace Knitting Patterns

On a lace knitting pattern, the pattern designer very likely has incorporated the lean of the decreases into the lace design, so most lace patterns will specifically tell you which decrease to use. Here is an example:

Row 2: K4. * K2tog. YO. K1. YO. SKP. K5. Rep from * until 9 sts rem. K2tog. YO. K1. YO. SKP. K4.

Notice how the K2tog and SKP "frame" the YOs (Yarn-overs). The different lean of the two decreases provides a mirror image to the lace pattern.

For more information

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Read Knitting Patterns for Lace

A beginning knitter might think that the knitting pattern for lace is just way too complex. So here are some tips to help provide some confidence.

The key component of lace fabric is the hole - without those eyelets there would be no lace.

The stitch that makes that hole has several names: Yarn Over (YO), Yarn Forward (Yfwd), Yarn Round Needle (Yrn), and others, depending on the age of the pattern or its country of origin or even just how the pattern writer thinks. (Here is an article about the Yarn Over stitch.)

The Yarn Over is an increase stitch. If the knitted fabric is supposed to end up rectangular, then there really has to be a corresponding decrease stitch. Typically, these decreases are formed by either right-leaning decrease like the K2tog (Knit 2 stitches together) or a left-leaning decrease like the SKP (Slip 1 stitch knitwise, Knit 1 stitch, Pass the slipped stitch over the knitted stitch). (Here is an article about Left-Leaning and Right-Leaning Decreases.)

Enough background - let's see a real example of a row instruction for lace:

Row 2: K4. * K2tog. YO. K1. YO. SKP. K5. Rep from * until 9 sts rem. K2tog. YO. K1. YO. SKP. K4.

The first step when you see a row like this is to identify the three main chunks in it:

• The beginning (the part before the asterisk or star or *): K4.
• The middle or repeat (the part after the asterisk and before the Repeat instruction): K2tog. YO. K1. YO. SKP. K5.
• The ending (the part after the Repeat instruction): K2tog. YO. K1. YO. SKP. K4.

Some people like to highlight just the repeated chunk of instructions. That isolates the beginning chunk and the ending chunk.

One useful tip is based on the fact that you are supposed to repeat until 9 stitches remain on the old needle. Put a stitch marker (or just a safety pin) onto the old needle just before those last 9 stitches. That way, when you come to the stitch marker, you know that you are supposed to stop the repeats. Then you can take the stitch marker off and work the ending chunk of the instructions.

You might have noticed that the ending chunk looks just like the repeated chunk - the only difference is that there is only a K4 at the end instead of a K5.

My personal confession: I don't worry about stopping 9 stitches from the end - I just keep knitting until I run out of stitches, and then I confirm that I ended with a K4.

One last tip: when you're looking at lace patterns, start with something that is simple. What defines simple? Look at the repeated section in the row instructions: if there are only one or two YOs in it, then I would call it simple. If it has three or more YOs in a repeat, it just might be something to do when you have a bit more experience.

If you found the above discussion a bit too complicated, please consider signing up for a free email-based course on How to Read Knitting Patterns.

Knit the Knits and Purl the Purls

Sometimes, a beginner knitter will come across a pattern that has that phrase in it - or it may be abbreviated as "K the Ks and P the Ps". And sometimes, the pattern writer will add the phrase "as they face you".

If you think that this means to Purl any stitches that you Purled in the previous row, you would be wrong!

Yep - that means that you have gone into a parallel universe, where black really means white!

OK, I'll get serious now.

The key phrase "as they face you" is important, even though some pattern writers might omit it.

When you make a Knit stitch, the result on the new needle is a stitch with a bump next to the needle on the back side of your knitted fabric (where you might not notice it), and a Vee on the front side.

When you make a Purl stitch, the result on the new needle is a stitch with a bump next to the needle on the front side of your knitted fabric, and a Vee on the back side (where you might not notice it).

If you work an entire row of Knit stitches and then swap the needles in preparation for making the next row, you will see a whole bunch of stitches with bumps next to the needle on the old needle. In other words, they look like Purl stitches. Even though you know that they were Knitted in the previous row.

Similarly, if you Purl a row and swap the needles to do the next row, you will see Vees, not bumps facing you. So they look like Knit stitches. And you know that you just finished Purling them.

When the pattern writer says to Knit the Knits and Purl the Purls, they mean Knit the stitches that look like Knit stitches, and Purl the stitches that look like Purl stitches.

And we now know that if a stitch looks like a Purl stitch, it was Knitted on the previous row (and vice versa).

Here are some photos to help you get the concept. In the first photo, the next stitch has to be a Knit stitch, because there is no bump next to the needle. In the second photo, the next stitch has to be a Purl stitch, because there is a definite bump next to the needle.

Knit the next stitch:


Purl the next stitch:

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How to understand knitting patterns better by partitioning them

Introduction

Have you taken a knitting class? And then have you tried to knit from a knitting pattern? Did you find it to be too complex - almost unreadable?

Then this article is for you.

One way to get a handle on a knitting pattern is to partition it - identify the major and minor and tiny sections in the pattern.

The two major sections in a knitting pattern

Every pattern has two major sections:

• The header. This includes the photo or diagram, the size, the suggested yarn and needles, and the gauge.
  
• The instructions. This includes everything between the initial cast-on to the final cast-off or bind-off and how to finish the project (seaming, weaving ends, and possibly more).
  

The header information is extremely important - but that will be the subject of another post.

The subsections in the Instructions

While each pattern is different, there are some commonalities. Usually, there is a separate subsection for each individual piece that would be seamed with others to make up the final project.

So, for a sweater pattern, you would typically have the following subsections:

• Back
  
• Front(s) (one front for a pullover, two fronts for a cardigan)
  
• Sleeves
  
• Collar
  
• Any other interesting things that a sweater might have (like a button band)
  
• Finishing
  

For socks, you might see the following subsections:

• Calf
  
• Heel
  
• Foot
  
• Toe
  

For a sampler afghan, you would typically see a separate subsection for each block (or type of block), plus another for finishing it (like a border).

For a scarf or one-piece afghan, you would usually see only one subsection.

It would be beneficial to highlight each of the subsections in your pattern - and remember, each of these subsections will include the instructions to make a single piece that is part of the finished project. And the subsection will include everything between the cast-on to the corresponding cast-off or bind-off (or in some cases, putting stitches onto a stitch holder for later use).

The tiny sections within an instruction row

The area that causes the biggest headache for a new knitter is a complex instruction row.

Most new knitters can quickly learn that if they see Row 1: K, they are to work the Knit stitch across the entire row (just like they practiced in class).

Similarly, Row 1: P means to work the Purl stitch across the entire row.

It is not too much of a stretch for the new knitter to understand the following:

Row 5: K5. P3. K4

This is read from left to right (even though the stitches are usually worked off the needles from right to left, unless you knit left-handed). So you would work the first 5 stitches off the needle using the Knit stitch, work the next 3 stitches using the Purl stitch, and work the final 4 stitches using the Knit stitch.

You would have started with 12 stitches, and ended with 12 stitches.

Pretty simple, right?

But what about the following snippet of instructions?

Row 3: K2. * YO. K2tog. Rep from * until 3 sts rem. K3.

First off, there are a couple of new abbreviations here: YO for yarn over, and K2tog for Knit 2 stitches together. Note that there are many places on the internet where you can find out what the abbreviations mean, and some places where you can even learn how to do what the abbreviations say. Here is one such link, from the Bernat website.

The second thing that the beginner notices is the asterisk or star (*). It is used as a repeat indicator. It is saying that you do the sequence of "YO. K2tog." over and over and over again until only 3 stitches remain on the old needle.

In a typical repeating instruction, there are usually the following tiny sections in the row:

• The beginning part (in this case the K2)
  
• The repeating part (in this case the * YO. K2tog. Rep from * until 3 sts rem.)
  
• The ending part (in this case the K3)
  

Once you have figured out the tiny sections, you have cut up the instructions into manageable bites.

And all of a sudden, the pattern isn't so scary!

So find a pattern, and try to identify the sections, subsections, and tiny sections.

You can also take an e-course on reading patterns - there is no charge for it. So sign up for it and get started on really learning to read and understand knitting patterns.