Leafling - ssk not coming out right

10 Responses to “Leafling - ssk not coming out right”

On March 31st, 2008 at 12:45 pm Amy said:

I felt the same way and have had a couple of folks look at it. I felt much better when I held my sock at the angle that the sock in the pic is held at. I think that I just had a particular idea in my head for what the ’straight on’ look should be, but (and this may be sour grapes talking) when I hold it at the same angle as the picture it looks the same Good luck!

On March 31st, 2008 at 1:02 pm Chrissie said:

you could try another right-leaning decrease to see if you like the look better…what about skp?

On March 31st, 2008 at 1:26 pm JC Briar said:

Chrissie has a good suggestion, but I suspect she meant to say “another LEFT-leaning decrease.” Both ssk and skp lean left, not right.

For most people, left-leaning decreases tend to look a little funkier than k2tog. My guess is that it’s because of the difference in which stitch (of the two being worked together) winds up on top. With k2tog, the leftmost stitch winds up on top; as you knit the stitch following the k2tog, this stitch gets snugged up. But when you work a left-leaning decrease (either ssk or skp), the rightmost stitch winds up on top; it DOESN’T get snugged up when you work the subsequent stitch.

Regardless, here are some suggestions for making your left-leaning decreases as pretty as possible:

- Work close to the tips of your needles, where they’re skinny, not up on the full-sized shafts of the needles.

- When working an ssk, be sure to [slip a stitch KNITWISE] twice. Then insert the left-hand needle into the fronts of these two stitches, and knit them together THROUGH THEIR BACK LOOPS.

- When working an skp, be sure to slip the first stitch KNITWISE before knitting the next stitch and passing the slipped stitch over it.

Remember, too, that blocking will help even out your stitches.

Best of luck!

On March 31st, 2008 at 1:59 pm Hallie said:

Ah! Thank you, JC! I had been knitting them through the front loops… I’ll try it through the back.

And it’s good to know that it’s not just that I’m an utterly defective knitter.

On March 31st, 2008 at 4:02 pm Robin Cadmus said:

I thought that I was having a similar “problem”, if you will, but in my case, it was a function of the color of the yarn at that point. Each stitch was the light greyish green and it looked as though it was more prominent but as I went on and the stitch number changed, so did the prominence. Hmmmm….Very interesting, but fun!!
R…………….>

On April 1st, 2008 at 4:21 am Beth said:

While I haven’t started my socks yet, I have been doing ssk as slip one knitwise, slip one purlwise, then knit through the back of the loops. I either read or heard this somewhere and like the way it looks better.

On April 1st, 2008 at 5:19 am Chrissie said:

yeah, I meant left-leaning….oops

On April 1st, 2008 at 6:44 am Jennifer Barrow said:

After a couple repeats using traditional ssk and not being entirely pleased with how it looked, I opted for slipping one knitwise, slipping one purlwise, and then knitting through the back loops (just a variation of ssk). It’s laying much flatter, and I like the look of it better. My left-leaning decreases never look as good as k2tog. Oh well!

On April 1st, 2008 at 7:45 am Marianne Casteel said:

With the varied ssk’s (do the one you like the best), try knitting into the back loop of the stitch directly above the ssk and see if that doesn’t make it mirror your k2togs better.

On April 9th, 2008 at 8:12 pm Kathy Read said:

Hello Marianne,
Thanks you so much for making your suggestion! I had been having trouble with my ssk’s and knitting into the back loop of the stitch above the ssk really make all the difference. I love the way the decreases look now and am making great progress with my socks. Thanks once again!

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