Thursday, October 23, 2008

A question

So in the practice sock that I made today I only had one bit that made me pause and it was the SSK instruction. It is the directional opposite of a k2tog. So my question is "is a ssk the same as a sl1, k1, psso?" OR "is it the same as a k2tog tbl?" or is it more twisty than that?
It may not matter, but being new to this sock knitting business I am wondering what the Australian version of this instruction would be. Who knew we actually use different terminology as well as needle sizes throughout the world....
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6 comments:

Bells said...

From what I understand SSK and the psso version do more or less the same thing. Last I read, SSK is considered a more modern take on that decrease.

Might be worth researching a bit more!

October 23, 2008 at 10:13 PM
Carol said...

I found this site absolutely invaluable if I wasn't sure because you can see it being done.

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/decreases

It may help you.

October 24, 2008 at 12:04 AM
kgirlknits said...

ssk; sl1, k1, psso; ktog tbl are all left-slanting decreases, but they provide subtly different results :)

I used to always go "bah! what's the difference?", and k2tog tbl until I really looked at the two techniques one day and saw the difference. ssk and k2tog tbl keep the stitches in different orientations.

sl1, k1, psso produces a very obvious decrease, one you would probably use more as a feature (ie in lacework) than as a shaping decrease, I think?

October 24, 2008 at 9:01 AM
Lynne said...

SSK is slip 1 stitch knitwise, do the same with the second stitch, now knit both stitches together by placing the left needle into the front - you then appear to be knitting through the back of the stitches but you have already turned them so you are knitting through the front! They lie better that way.

Our Guild 'knitting guru' - a Show judge - says that whichever method you choose to use, be consistent!

October 24, 2008 at 9:04 AM
Lea said...

I looked up ssk on youtube and found a great instruction video. basically it is slipping two stitches on the rhs needle knitwise and then putting the left needle up through them and knitting them together I hope that makes some sense.

October 24, 2008 at 1:19 PM
happyspider said...

ssk stands for slip 1 knitwise, slip 1 knitwise, knit the 2 slipped stitches together. It creates a left-slanting decrease without the twisted stitch that is caused by sl1, k1, psso. In theory, without a twisted stitch it creates more even gauge and wear for the fabric.
however, as long as you use a decrease that slants in the right direction for your pattern, it doesn't really matter which one you use. Pick your favourite, as I'm sure the designer did.
Hope this helps :)

October 24, 2008 at 4:02 PM

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