Directional Single Decreases for Knitting

When I knit my first hat, I noticed that the decreases on the top swirled to the right. This is because knitted single decreases slant to the left or the right. The most common decrease, knit 2 together (k2tog), leans to the right. Of course, there will be times that you need your knitting to lean to the left: lace patterns, sweater shaping, knitting socks, and so on. For these decreases, you have a few options.

If you work your k2tog through the back loops (k2tog tbl), you’ll end up with a left-leaning decrease. I find that this stitch often becomes elongated, though. The slip, slip, knit (ssk) decrease matches the size of k2tog a little better, so it’s the left-leaning decrease that I use the most. The slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over (skp) decrease will also lean to the left. As you can see, I’ve used right-leaning decreases on the left side of my swatch and left-leaning decreases on the right. With these easy stitches, you can create even directional decreasing on each side. Interested in directional increases? I’ll have a post on that next week.
Related links:

• Less is More, pt. 2: Knit Decreases
• Less is More, pt. 1: Crochet Decreases