How to Decrease Stitches in Knitting

A little while back I shared my post about how to increase knitting stitches, so now it’s time to take them away.

There are a lot of different ways to decrease stitches, just as there are a lot of ways to increase stitches, so my collection isn’t exhaustive, but it does cover the most common knitting decreases you are likely to encounter as you begin your knitting journey.

For example, knit 2 together. This is probably the most common decrease out there, and if you don’t care how it looks you can use it most of the time. It’s often paired with a slip, slip knit or SSK, though, because a knit 2 together leans to the right and the SSK leans to the left.

This pair of decreases looks great when you want to emphasize the decrease line (say, if you’re working a raglan design from the bottom up) or if you want the decreases to point inward on each side, as when you work decreases for a sock toe.

While the SSK is by far the most common left-leaning decrease, you can also try out a slip 1, knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over, which is not quite as prominent in the knit fabric (to my eye, anyway, it doesn’t seem to stick out as much) so it’s a great one to try.

And of course there are double decreases you might use in lace or other situations where you don’t really want a decrease that leans in either direction and you need to take out two stitches at once.

All of these are easy to do (though I will admit to always having to think through which decreases lean which way, just like I have to look up how to make a make 1 left or make 1 right each time) and you can find a quick tutorial for each in my guide to knitting decreases over at Our Daily Craft.

Do you have a favorite decrease? I’d love to hear about it!

Next Pattern:

Why should the fireplace get all the fun? Instead of knitting stockings this year, why not whip up a pair of Christmas themed socks? These Christmas sock knitting patterns are lots of fun to make and you can wear them to holiday gatherings for years to come.

For our friends in the southern part of the world, there are the Christmas in July socks from the Kiwi Lodge – Kylie (Ravelry link). These shorty socks are covered in Christmas trees and have bright pink heels and toes for a tropical feel. There’s also an option to make a longer sock if you celebrate somewhere it’s colder.

Twin Stitches Designs (Ravelry) has a fun pattern with mix and match colorwork motifs you can use to build your own cozy Christmas socks. From the sample socks I see Christmas puddings, trucks hauling trees, Santa belts, ornaments and a couple of different borders. There may be more patterns included but the listing doesn’t say. Make a pair that matches or use different motifs on each foot for extra holiday cheer.

If you want to stick to Christmas puddings on your holiday socks, check out this cute pattern from Stone Knits. These lovely socks feature a band of puddings around the leg and a bit of holly by the toes.

These vintage holiday light socks from Grey Owl Knits by Sarah are classic looking and lots of fun at the same time. I love this color combination but of course you can make your lights and stripes whatever colors you like or have on hand. They’re worked using stranded knitting.

And if you’d like even more of a mix of patterns for your socks, try Barbara Ceglédi’s Christmas Chaos socks, a free pattern on Ravelry. The pattern includes 25 little motifs you can choose from, ranging from snowflakes and Christmas trees to elf hats, reindeer and hearts.

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