Which brings me to the question...when you're looking at a chart with those left leaning slashes and the right leaning slashes, what's your secret to remembering which is an ssk and which is a k2tog?
I have been trying for years and years to come up with something that will stick, so that when I start a new pattern and I see the slashes, I will recall without fail which way an ssk leans. And not need to check the key to make sure I'm correct.
Do you have a pnemonic, or a little mantra, or a rhyme to remember which is which?
Spill! I am all ears.
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Pattern: Hansel (half) by Gudrun JohnstonYarn: Fog, Starcroft Fiber.
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Hello,
ReplyDeleteMy first comment here :) Thank you for your beautiful shots!
Mine is not a cool rhyme but this works anyway. I am right-handed and as executing k2tog is simpler and faster, it has to lean right as everything is easier with right hand.
Lean the decrease in the direction of the slant. Afterwards I think whether that's a K2Tog or SSK.
ReplyDeleteI think of K2tog as being on the right and SSK as being on the left. So a slant that points right has to be K2tog, and a slant that points left has to be SSK. It's sort of a "feeling" combined with a visual thing.
ReplyDeleteI dunno. I just memorized 'em back in the day.
ReplyDeleteIt feels "right" to K2tog, so SSK is left. :)
ReplyDeleteI think your needle is pointing in the direction of the slant. Towards the right with k2tog and left with ssk. Helen
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I was hoping for a better answer in the comments, but I use letters: sLip sLip knit would be Left. Similarly, for lifted increases, I think of knitting through the fRont of the stitch as a Right-leaning increase.
ReplyDeleteLean to the right- k2tog -right leaning
ReplyDeleteSkip to the left- ssk- left leaning
I'm with Patience--I look at the chart and do the right-leaning one or the left-leaning one and don't care what they're called. In general shaping instructions, I just figure out whether the left=leaner or right=leaner makes more sense and do that one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for asking the question, because I wonder the same thing all the time.
ReplyDeleteThanks k2o for your reply. I think I'll use that in the future!
So, I look at the chart. The SSK/left symbols points left and the K2tog symbol points right.
ReplyDeleteI love charts, because, as lots above me have said, the slash points in the direction the working needle goes and it is visually very clear to me. However, if I have to follow DIRECTIONS!! WRITTEN ones!! I can never remember and have to find a chart to see what I should be doing..
ReplyDeleteThe upright on a 2 leans right, as does a k2tog. The upright on an S leans left, as does a ssk. Thats my trick. I write 2s and Ss in the air and mutter. I suspect it scares people in coffee shops.
ReplyDeleteI tell my students to look at the direction the symbol is leaning. If the slant is to the right make the stitch lean that way, if the symbol slants to the left make the stitch lean that way. And if you have symbols on the WS - does the symbol lean toward or away from the stitch you previously executed?
ReplyDeleteAnd if you want to use the same stitches that Shetlanders use (SSK was invented by Barbara G Walker and is therefore fairly new) instead of the SSK use a knit 2 together through the back loop or a slip, knit, psso.
The place I use these most is when I knit socks. I can never remember if the ssk goes at the beginning of a needle or at the end... So now I always say to myself: Begin behind, end together (so at the beginning of the needle I use the ssk - which I never do, I k2tog through the back loop, or "behind" then at the end of the needle I do a k2tog and "end together." Don't think it's helpful to anyone else, but I thought I would share, belatedly. I'm good that way.
ReplyDeleteI so wish I could go! Sadly this event always seems to fall on my DH's birthday. :-( Have a fabulous time. Looking forward to living vicariously through your photos.
ReplyDelete