Decrease: Slip, Slip, Knit (ssk)

We know lots of ways to get rid of stitches, from slipping them to dropping them! SSK stands for Slip, Slip, Knit and is a left slanting decrease.

To begin, slip the first stitch on your left needle to the right by inserting the tip of the right needle into the front of the stitch. Repeat for the second stitch on the left needle.  

Now you have two twisted stitches on the right needle; they are facing the opposite direction from all of the other stitches. Slip them back to the left needle so that they remain twisted.

Now knit the twisted stitches together through the back loop, inserting the point of the right needle behind the back needle and into both stitches at once. Try to keep the stitches as loose as possible.

 

You have decreased one stitch and created a stitch that slants to the left. 

 

Comments

[MaryAnn]

Thank you so much for this explanation and photos of ssk!!! I've never seen it explained as a twist and putting the stitches back on the left needle makes them easier to knit. Glad I found your tutorials, I'm going to check more of them out.

[Deryn]

Your photo was great. I was slipping the stitches OK, but approaching the knitting together in the goofiest way. No wonder it did not work. Your explanation was very helpful.
Thanks!
Deryn

[Kris]

Thank you for these instructions! I finally "get" ssk.

[Tallguy]

I think you've got this mixed up a bit here. An SSK decrease is a left-leaning decrease; a K2tog is a right-leaning decrease. Whether you twist the stitches or not really doesn't matter -- it's which stitch gets the needle first that matters.

For an SSK decrease, you slip both stitches as you have done; this will mount them in the other direction. You return them to the left needle, and then you KNIT THROUGH THE BACK LOOPS so that the right stitch of the pair is the first entered by the right needle. This will result in your decrease leaning towards the left. You can also just knit the two stitches through the back without changing the mounting, but the resulting decrease will have the legs crossed and will disrupt the flow the stitches.

To do the K2tog for a right-leaning decrease, you don't need to change the mount of the stitches, since they are already in the correct position. You knit the next 2 stitches together by inserting the right needle into the left stitch of the pair, resulting in a decrease which will lean to the right.

[purl bee]

Thanks Tallguy! You are so right! Thank you so much for pointing out our error.

We revised the SSK Tutorial to reflect your notes.

[rachel]

thank you so much for your neatly writtin instructions.

i can finally do a ssk!

[chocolatehead]

As I waas reading and trying to do it like in the pictures it just didn't make any sence to me. But luckily I decided to read the comments, Tallguy explained it so well! Or, I didn't get distracted by the mismatching pictures :)

[susan k]

just wondering...when i do the ssk, i slip the first 2 stitches (knitwise) from the left needle to the right needle and them knit them together off of the right needle. I don't move them back to the left needle before knitting them together and I don't knit through the back loop. Is this way also correct?

[purl bee]

Hi Susan K,

Yes, that's how I do it too!

Thanks for asking,
Whitney