Basic Stitches for Lace Knitting - ShopMartingaleBasic Stitches for Lace Knitting By Karen Soltys...

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1 Basic Stitches for Lace Knitting By Karen Soltys for the Stitch This! blog at ShopMartingale.com YO A yarn over, abbreviated YO, is a way to increase stitch count. Rather than knitting or purling into another stitch, you simply wrap the yarn around your needle before working the next stitch in the pattern. This loop around the needle will make one more stitch to knit on the following row. But because it wasn’t worked into a stitch, it also makes a little gap or hole. When the knitting is blocked to open up the holes, all the yarn overs create the openwork in the lace knitting. Clever, huh? Yarn over K2tog Knit two stitches together is the most basic of all decreases. Some lace calls for nothing more than knitting two stitches together followed by yarn overs. Simply insert your right needle, into the first two stitches on the left needle in one motion, wrap the yarn over the right needle and pull it through both stitches at once. You’ve now knit them together and decreased one stitch. If you’re knitting a pattern where it matters if your decreases slant to the left or the right, you should know that K2tog is a right-slanting decrease. K2tog SSK Slip, slip, knit is a left-slanting decrease in which you also work two stitches together, but it creates the mirror image of a K2tog. To make an ssk, insert the right needle into the first stitch on the left needle. Slip it off the left needle and onto the right needle, as if you’re knitting (but don’t work the stitch). Repeat, slipping a second stitch off the left needle. Now slip the tip of the left needle into the front of the two slipped stitches. (That means the right needle tip will be behind the left needle tip. Got it?) Now, wrap the working yarn around the tip of the right needle, pull the loop through both stitches, and slip them off the needles. Congratulations, you’ve just made a slip, slip, knit decrease. It sounds much more difficult than it is, I promise. Look at your knitting. See how this decrease slants in the opposite direction of the K2tog? SSK YO, ssk, K1, K2tog, YO. Notice how the ssk slants to the left, while the K2tog slants toward the right.

Transcript of Basic Stitches for Lace Knitting - ShopMartingaleBasic Stitches for Lace Knitting By Karen Soltys...

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Basic Stitches for Lace KnittingBy Karen Soltys for the Stitch This! blog at ShopMartingale.com

YOA yarn over, abbreviated YO, is a way to increase stitch count. Rather than knitting or purling into another stitch, you simply wrap the yarn around your needle before working the next stitch in the pattern. This loop around the needle will make one more stitch to knit on the following row. But because it wasn’t worked into a stitch, it also makes a little gap or hole. When the knitting is blocked to open up the holes, all the yarn overs create the openwork in the lace knitting. Clever, huh?

Yarn over

K2togKnit two stitches together is the most basic of all decreases. Some lace calls for nothing more than knitting two stitches together followed by yarn overs. Simply insert your right needle, into the first two stitches on the left needle in one motion, wrap the yarn over the right needle and pull it through both stitches at once. You’ve now knit them together and decreased one stitch. If you’re knitting a pattern where it matters if your decreases slant to the left or the right, you should know that K2tog is a right-slanting decrease.

K2tog

SSKSlip, slip, knit is a left-slanting decrease in which you also work two stitches together, but it creates the mirror image of a K2tog. To make an ssk, insert the right needle into the first stitch on the left needle. Slip it off the left needle and onto the right needle, as if you’re knitting (but don’t work the stitch). Repeat, slipping a second stitch off the left needle. Now slip the tip of the left needle into the front of the two slipped stitches. (That means the right needle tip will be behind the left needle tip. Got it?) Now, wrap the working yarn around the tip of the right needle, pull the loop through both stitches, and slip them off the needles. Congratulations, you’ve just made a slip, slip, knit decrease. It sounds much more difficult than it is, I promise. Look at your knitting. See how this decrease slants in the opposite direction of the K2tog?

SSK

YO, ssk, K1, K2tog, YO. Notice how the ssk slants to the left, while the K2tog slants toward the right.

2 Basic Stitches for Lace Knitting

SKPSKP stands for slip one stitch, knit one stitch, pass the slipped stitch over. You might also see this decrease abbreviated as PSSO, or “pass slipped stitch over.” Whichever way the instructions list it, here’s what you do: Slip one stitch from the left needle onto the right needle; knit the next stitch on the left needle. Now use the tip of the left needle to lift the slipped stitch (the second stitch in on the right needle) up and over the stitch you just knit. Drop the slipped stitch off the needle completely. Mission accomplished.

SKP

SKP

K2tog-tblKnit two stitches together through the back loop. Just when you thought there couldn’t be one more way to make a left-slanting decrease, here’s one more. This happens to be my personal favorite, as it really does make the exact opposite of K2tog. And, it takes fewer motions to do this decrease than the variations where you’re slipping stitches and passing the slipped stitches over other stitches. I learned this from Donna Druchunas, who shared it in Successful Lace Knitting. I’ve used it ever since.

For this left-slanting decrease, insert your right needle into the back of the first two stitches on the left needle. Wrap the yarn around the needle as if to knit, pull the loop through both stitches, and slip those stitches off the left needle. Easy peasy. My new favorite decrease!

K2tog-tbl

K2tog-tbl

3 Basic Stitches for Lace Knitting

K2tog-tbl

DCDA DCD is knitting shorthand for double center decrease. Wait, what? Remember, lace knitting is made of yarn overs (increases) and corresponding decreases. Usually they’re made in pairs so that the stitch count remains constant. But sometimes, you want a decrease in the center of a lace panel or project with a yarn-over hole on either side. To keep the stitch count even, you need to do a double decrease in the center to account for the two yarn overs. This involves decreasing three stitches down to one stitch. Here’s how to do that. It’s pretty much like doing the SKP.

1. Slip one stitch from the left needle onto the right needle.

2. Knit the next two stitches together. (K2tog = one stitch decreased.)

3. Lift the slipped stitch over the K2tog stitch and off the needles. (A second stitch decreased.)

I told you it would be easy. But just to make things a bit more confusing, you may also see this abbreviated as SK2P, short for slip one stitch, K2tog, pass slipped stitch over. Got it? I knew you would!

DCDSl1, K2tog, psso

DCD. Notice how 3 stitches are decreased down to 1 stitch, and flanked by YOs.

An alternate method for a DCD is to:

1. Slip two stitches from the left needle onto the right needle.

2. Knit one stitch.

3. Pass both slipped stitches over the knitted stitch and off the needles. Two stitches decreased.

Slip two stitches together as if to knit. Knit the next stitch on the le� needle.

DCDSl 2, K1, psso

Pass the two slipped stitches over the knit

stitch on the right needle.

Well, there you have it. The essential stitches you need to know for lace knitting.

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