Ok, so you’ve knit your first scarf (yea!) and you’re ready to move on to something else. Your best knitting buddy is making this amazing [insert project here] and you’ve just got to make one, too! But, it’s got abbreviations in the pattern that you’ve never seen before: yo, m1, kfb, k2tog, ssk, skp or even “sl1, k1, psso.” These weird markings are just ways of increasing or decreasing the number of stitches on your needle. They’re not that scary (honest) and are vital skills for the beginner knitter.

Reasons for Increasing or Decreasing

So why would you want to change the number of stitches on your needle, anyway? The most common reason is for shaping.  Say you’re knitting a hat in the round. You cast on the lower edge (the brim) and work up towards the top (the crown.) As you approach the crown you realize that you currently have a tube with a big gaping hole at the top.

To get a traditional hat shape you must decrease the diameter of this hole until it closes up. To decrease the diameter of the hole, simply decrease the number of stitches on your needles.

The second most reason for increasing or decreasing is to create pattern. You’ve just found a pattern for the finest, softest, floaty-est lace shawl you’ve ever seen, and your inner princess is demanding one for her own self. How do you get all those lovely, decorative designs in there? Yarn-overs create not only an extra stitch, but a decorative hole. Yes, a hole. On purpose.

So, let’s take a look at the most common increases and decreases. By the time you’ve mastered these babies, you’ll be hot to trot and ready to rumble. Or just knit. What ever makes you happy.

Increasing

Yarn Over (yo)

A yarn over is the easiest increase technique, hands down. When done between two knit stitches, it’s just like when you switch form knitting to purling in the middle of the row. In your pattern, you’ll see some instructions that look like this: “K3, yo, K3″ All this is telling you to do is knit the first three stitches individually just like normal. Then, before you start the next stitch, bring your yarn forward between the needles, lay it over the right hand needle, continuing the motion until the yarn is wrapped around to the back, ready to work the next stitch. Then, knit the next three stitches like normal. The bit where you kind of wrapped the right hand needle with the yarn? That was the yarn over. You’ve just created an extra stitch and a decorative hole all in one fail swoop.

To make a yarn over between two purl stitches is not much different. Because you’ve just made a purl, your yarn will naturally be in the front of your work. Simply lay the working yarn over the right hand needle, continue so that the yarn wraps behind the needle, and comes back around between the tips on the two needles. Your yarn is now back in the front and you are ready to work the next Purl.

To make a yarn over between a knit and a purl, you’ll be combining two techniques: the yarn over and changing the working yarn position from knit to purl. First, knit a stitch and make a yarn over as if you were going to make another knit stitch. Your yarn will be in the back, but to make a purl it needs to be in the front. So, bring your yarn to the front through the tips of the needles. It may feel like you’ve wrapped the needle too much, but the yarn is now in the correct position to make a purl stitch. Feeling confused? Check out this video, it should help.

Make One (m1)

Make one is the technique used when you want to increase one stitch, but you don’t want an obvious hole. To do this, work to where you see “m1″ in the pattern. Now pull the tips of the needles apart a bit until you can see a little bar of yarn hanging out between the stitch you just worked and the one you were about to work. Now dip the tip of your left needle under that bar, from the front to the back. You’ve just created a new stitch. Now you need to knit that stitch. But, if you just knit it like normal you will have a hole there, similar to a yarn over. To prevent that, knit this stitch through the back. Yup, just insert the tip on your right needle into the leg on the back side of the needle and knit it. This twists the stitch closed, so there’s no hole.

This technique will cause that new stitch to slant to the left. If you want your new stitch to slant to the right, dip your left needle under the bar from back to front, then knit through the front. Why worry about which way they slant? You can create decorative borders with slanting increases and decreases. Don’t believe me? Check out this tutorial at KnittingHelp.com. It takes decorative shaping to a whole new level.

Make one right

Make one left

Decreasing

Knit Two Together (k2tog)

Knitting two stitches together is the oldest trick in the book for decreasing. You work it just like it sounds. Place your right needle into the second stitch from tip of the left needle, inserting the right needle into both of the first two stitches. Then knit them as if they were one stitch. This decreases by one and also causes the stitches to slant to the right.

Slip Slip Knit (ssk)

Ssk is a relatively new way to decrease, first appearing in the 1970’s in the book The Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. It’s a left slanting decrease, and was invented to be a mirror to k2tog’s right slant.

To ssk, insert your right needle into a stitch as if you were going to knit it. Don’t knit it! Simply slip the stitch from the left to the right needle without working it. Now repeat that for the next stitch on the left needle. You will have slipped two stitches. Now insert your left needle into the front of these just-slipped stitches. Your right needle will be hanging out in back, ready to receive your working yarn. Now knit these two stitched just as if you were doing a k2tog.

Slip One, Knit One, Pass the Slipped Stitch Over (skp or “sl1, k1, psso”)

Skp is an older way of creating a left slanting decrease and is popular with lace knitting. It sounds scary, but if you just follow the name of it step by step, it becomes pretty self explanatory.

First, insert your right needle into the first stitch on the left, then move it to the right needle without working it. That’s the “slip one” part. Now knit the next stitch on the left needle just like normal. That’s the “knit one.” Lastly, insert the left needle into the front of the slipped stitch and lift it over the knitted stitch, letting it drop completely off the needles. You have just ”passed the slipped stitch over.” It’s just like the motion you do when binding off. 

Thanks!

I hope this has helped explain some of the most common increases and decreases out there. If you have any questions, or a suggestion for a future article, please feel free to leave a comment. I welcome all feedback!

Hat photo by noricum. Shawl photo by Tara S.