Another Quadruple Decrease

I’ve now tried out Smariek’s quadruple decrease and discovered that it leaves a little eyelet each side of the central stitch when that is knitted. I didn’t want those eyelets, so a bit more experimentation was in order.

I needed a slightly left-leaning quad decrease to match to s1, k2tog, psso and here’s what I’ve come up with:

slip 2 stitches knitwise one at a time
pass first slipped stitch over second slipped stitch
slip the next stitch purlwise (this is the centre stitch)
pass the second stitch on the left needle over the first stitch on the left needle
slip the centre stitch on the right needle back to the left needle
leave the remaining stitch on the right needle (it is already turned)

Now k2tog, psso.

The stitch lies flat, unlike the rather lumpy s2, k3tog, p2sso

It also has the least obvious loop on the right of the stitch and the smallest gap between the stitch and its neighbours.

A Quadruple Decrease

This is a bit more complicated than Marianne Kinzel’s s2, k3tog, p2sso direction; and the way in which the decrease is done may result in a slight right lean, but I think that it results in the centre stitch going to the bottom, so here’s a link to D4 Quadruple Decrease by Smariek Knits where the method is described in detail. Basically, a stitch from each side of the centre stitch is passed over the centre stitch until only the centre stitch remains on the needle; and then that centre stitch is knitted in the normal way. The example given results in a right lean, but if the first stitch slipped over the centre stitch came from the left instead of the right (and then the next one came from the right, etc) I think a slight left lean might result instead.

I think it should also be possible to produce a quadruple decrease with the centre stitch on top by slipping stitches in order to gain access to stitches 4 and 5 and to slip 5 over 4; and to gain access to stitches 1 and 2 and slip 1 over 2; then put all of the remaining three loops back on the left needle, do s2 as if to k2tog, k1, p2sso.

I think I’ll give these a go on waste yarn and see what they look like before deciding whether to use Kinzel’s stitch or a variant of Smariek’s stitch.

Knitting Double Decreases

I’ve launched into Marianne Kinzel’s Daffodil Design. She uses some stitches which I was a bit doubtful over, but I’ve found a nice website which discusses double decreases, Double decreases and decreases from the purl side from Ariel’s craft journal, which has cleared up one of them, at least.

The symbol which I’m used to seeing for a centred double decrease is actually being used for a double decrease which is executed by doing slip 1, k2tog, psso. This results in the centre stitch of the three going to the bottom of the resulting stitch rather than coming to the top. It also gives the look of an inverted ‘V’, which sounds about right, as it’s being used at the top of a leaf. It also slants a little to the left, so you can’t describe it as being completely centred. Three stitches, from left to right, A-B-C will end up stacked from top to bottom as C-B-A.

The other symbol I’ve come across is a blocked-in triangle executed by slip 2, k3tog, p2sso. If I call the five stitches, from left to right, A-B-C-D-E then this decrease will result in a stack, from top to bottom, of E-D-A-B-C. Once again, the central stitch is ending up on the bottom of the stack, but I have a suspicion that this might lean quite heavily towards the left. Whether I will find anything about 5-into-1 decreases is something I don’t know, but I might find some time spent with a pair of knitting needles and some waste yarn is time better spent than a session in Google.

It looks like Daffodil Design is going to grind to a halt until I’ve worked out whether to go with Marianne Kinzel’s 50+ year old direction or whether there is something a bit more symmetrical to execute instead.

Two different symbols for k2tog in the same pattern!

I’ve had Marianne Kinzel’s Second Book of Lace Knitting for some time and I’ve had my eyes on the Daffodil Design pattern. It was originally meant to be a small tablecloth knitted in thread, but I want to do it as a throw in yarn.

Interestingly, the charts use two different symbols for k2tog! One is a right-slanting symbol which corresponds to the right-slanting k2tog and is balanced in the pattern by a left-slanting symbol which corresonds to the left-slanting sl1, k1, psso – or if you prefer, SSK, where you slip two stitches individually knitwise, return them to the left needle and then knit them through the back of the loops. (I actually find that I don’t need to actually slip them back to the left needle to achieve this manoeuvre.) The other symbol which represents a k2tog is a vertical chevron. It would be rather nice to find something which produced a neutral decrease when this symbol is encountered – provided that it didn’t slow the knitting down too much!

Doing a centred knitting decrease from 3 stitches to 2

I found this useful decrease on the Internet and it’s just as well I wrote it down, because now I can’t find whose site I found it on.

So here it is:

sl1
k1 leaving the original stitch on the L needle
pss on R needle over new stitch
k2tog from L needle, this time dropping both stitches from the L needle

The result is that the first and third stitches meet and the middle stitch dives under them and disappears.

I don’t think it’s possible to do a 3-into-2 decrease where the middle stitch remains on top as it would probably need to have a loop remaining on the R needle after the decrease; and it would be impossible to maintain symmetry as there would have to be one other stitch and it would have to be either to the left or the right. However, someone might be able to prove me wrong. I’d certainly be interested in something that does a 3-to-2 but looks like the CDD where the centre stitch stands out on top.