The Knitting Studio

Techniques

The skills that turn rectangles into things

Once you can knit and purl, everything else is shaping, joining, measuring and repairing. These six techniques cover almost all of it — and the last two will save more of your projects than the first four.

Decreases — making two stitches into one

k2tog · ssk · cdd

A decrease is any manoeuvre that turns two or three stitches into one. What separates a good decrease from a bad one is not the count but the lean: the surviving stitch tilts to one side, and on a shaped edge or a lace panel that tilt is the design.

k2tog — leans RIGHT knit two together through the front the new stitch tips toward the right 1st st 2nd st Insert the needle through both, knit them as one. Use at the END of a right-side row, or the right-hand side of a lace motif. ssk — leans LEFT slip, slip, knit the two back together the new stitch tips toward the left 1st st 2nd st Slip two knitwise one at a time, then knit them together through the back. Use at the START of a right-side row, or the left-hand side of a lace motif.
Grey shows the stitch that ends up underneath. In a k2tog the second stitch is swallowed and the fabric tilts right; in an ssk the first is swallowed and it tilts left. Pair them on opposite edges and the shaping looks deliberate.
DecreaseWritten asLeansLosesWhere it belongs
Knit two togetherk2togRight1 stRight-hand edge of a piece worked upward; right side of a lace repeat
Slip slip knitsskLeft1 stLeft-hand edge; left side of a lace repeat. Mirror of k2tog
Purl two togetherp2togRight (on RS)1 stWrong-side rows, when the decrease must show on the front
Slip 1, k2tog, pssosk2pLeft2 stsA steeper left-leaning decrease
Centred double decreasecdd / s2kpNeither — vertical2 stsThe spine of a chevron, the centre of a shawl, the top of a hat panel
Why ssk exists at all

You could decrease everything with k2tog and the stitch count would be perfect. It would also all lean the same way, so one edge of your V-neck would look crisp and the other would look like a mistake. Matching the lean to the edge is the entire point.

How to Knit Decreases — SSK, K2tog, P2tog & More

All the standard decreases in one video, close enough to see the lean.

Open on YouTube ↗

Increases — making one stitch into two

yo · m1L · m1R · kfb

Three ways to add a stitch, and the choice is entirely about whether you want the increase to be seen. A yarn-over shouts; a make-one whispers; a knit-front-and-back mumbles.

yo — yarn over Wrap the yarn over the needle and carry on. Leaves a hole — which is the point, in lace. m1L / m1R — make one lift the running thread and knit into it — twisted, so no hole. Front-to-back leans left; back-to-front, right. kfb — knit front and back Knit the stitch, do not drop it, knit it again through the back. Easiest of the three, but leaves a small bump you can see.
All three add exactly one stitch. They differ only in what they leave behind: a hole, nothing, or a bump.
Increases and decreases cancel

In lace, every yarn-over has a decrease somewhere in the same row to balance it. If your stitch count is drifting in a lace pattern, you have almost certainly dropped a yarn-over rather than added an extra one — a missing hole is much harder to spot than a spare stitch.

Common Increases and Decreases — M1R, M1L, K2TOG & SSK

The four you will use most, demonstrated back to back so the mirroring is obvious.

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Shaping in practice

Where the decreases go

Shaping is just decreases and increases placed on a schedule. Three shapes cover most garments.

Tapered sleeve ssk after the first 2 sts, k2tog before the last 2, every 6th row (worked downward) Raglan yoke four marked lines, a paired increase either side of each, every other round — 8 sts per round Hat crown divide into 8 wedges, k2tog before each marker, decreasing more often as the circle shrinks
Every garment shape in knitting is one of these three ideas repeated: taper an edge, split a tube into panels, or close a circle.

Knitting in the round

No purling, no seams

Join the two ends of your cast-on row into a circle and you are knitting a tube. The right side always faces you, so plain stockinette becomes "knit every round" with no purling at all — which is why hats, socks and yoked jumpers are almost always worked this way.

Joined correctly marker every cast-on loop hangs the same way, with the bumpy edge pointing inward a marker shows where the round begins Twisted — start again part of the row has flipped over, so the tube will spiral into a Möbius strip unfixable after the first round — rip back
Before you join, lay the needle flat and run a finger round the cast-on edge. Every bump should point the same way. This is the one check in knitting that is genuinely worth doing twice.

What changes when you work in the round

  • Stockinette = knit every round.
  • Garter = alternate a knit round and a purl round.
  • Charts are read right to left on every line.
  • There are no wrong-side rows, so colourwork never has to be stranded on a purl round.

The jog, and what to do about it

A round is really a spiral, so a colour change leaves a small step where the round begins. Fix it by lifting the stitch below the first stitch of the second round and knitting the two together, or simply place the jog where a seam would have been.

Small circles: magic loop and DPNs

Socks, sleeves, mitts

A 40 cm circular needle cannot go round a sock. Two solutions: pull a loop of cable out of the middle of the work (magic loop), or split the stitches across three or four short double-pointed needles.

Magic loop — one long circular Half the stitches on each side, the spare cable pulled out in two loops. Knit one side, rotate, knit the other. Needs an 80–100 cm cable. Double-pointed needles the tube Stitches split over three needles and worked with a fourth. Older, fiddlier, and still the neatest way to close the top of a hat.
Both methods make an identical tube. Magic loop needs one long needle; DPNs need a set of five short ones and a tolerance for holding four things at once.
Ladders

Both methods leave a visible column of loose stitches wherever one needle ends and the next begins. The cure is the same for both: give the first two stitches after each changeover a firm tug, and move the changeover point every few rounds if the pattern allows.

How to Knit Magic Loop — Beginners, plus Tips for Neater Results

Includes the ladder problem and several fixes for it.

Open on YouTube ↗

Easy Magic Loop Knitting for Beginners

A ten-minute walkthrough from cast-on to the first few rounds.

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Gauge — the step everyone skips once

Do it anyway

Gauge is how many stitches and rows you get in a given width of fabric. It is the only thing that connects a pattern's numbers to the size of the object you end up with. Two knitters using the same yarn and needles routinely get results a whole size apart.

10 cm / 4 in 10 cm Count inside the marked window 7 stitches across · 6 rows up, in this drawing. Include the half stitches — 18.5 is a real answer. Swatch bigger than you measure Cast on for at least 15 cm and work 15 cm, then measure the middle. The edges always lie. Wash it first Wet the swatch and dry it flat, exactly as you will treat the finished garment. Many yarns change size. Then adjust the needle, not your knitting Too many stitches per 10 cm → go up a needle size. Too few → go down. Never try to knit tighter.
Measuring a gauge swatch. The number that matters is stitches per 10 cm; row gauge matters too, but you can usually work to a measured length instead.
When you can skip it, and when you cannot

Scarf, blanket, dishcloth — skip it, nothing has to fit. Hat, socks, anything with sleeves — do it, and do it in the actual stitch pattern. A cable swatch and a stockinette swatch in the same yarn can differ by 20% in width.

How and Why to Knit a Gauge Swatch

Makes the case, then shows the measuring properly — including what to do with the answer.

Open on YouTube ↗

Fixing mistakes

Nothing here is fatal

A dropped stitch looks like a disaster and is not. Because each stitch is held up only by the one above it, a dropped stitch unravels straight down its own column and leaves a neat ladder of horizontal rungs — one rung per row. Every rung is the yarn you need to rebuild the stitch.

1 The ladder one rung per dropped row 2 Hook the loose stitch from the front, on knit rows 3 Pull each rung through bottom rung first, one at a time
Work from the bottom rung upward. On a purl column, turn the work over and do exactly the same thing from the other side — a purl is a knit seen from behind.

Un-knitting (tinking)

To undo one stitch at a time, put the left needle into the stitch below the one on the right needle, slip the top one off, and pull the yarn free. Slow, exact, and it never loses your place.

Ripping back (frogging)

Slide everything off, pull the yarn, and stop one row above your target. Then pick the stitches up one at a time onto a needle a size or two smaller — it slides into loops more easily.

Lifelines

Thread a length of smooth contrasting yarn through every live stitch on a completed row. If it all goes wrong later, you can rip back to that row knowing every stitch is caught. Essential in lace and brioche.

How to Fix a Dropped Knit Stitch

With a knitting needle or a crochet hook, both shown.

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How to Fix a Dropped Purl Stitch

The same rescue from the other side, which is the part that confuses people.

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Blocking — the step that makes it look bought

Finishing

Wet the finished piece, pin it to the size and shape you want, and let it dry. Wool has a memory: it will hold whatever shape it dried in. Uneven stitches even out, lace opens, curling edges lie flat, and the whole thing stops looking handmade in the bad sense.

Wet blocking — wool, alpaca, cotton Soak 20 minutes in cool water with a little wool wash. Squeeze, never wring. Roll in a towel, then pin out. Steam blocking — quicker, gentler Pin dry, then hover a steam iron just above the surface. Never press: it flattens the stitches permanently. Acrylic will not block Synthetics have no memory to reset. Heavy steam will "kill" acrylic — permanently limp, sometimes wanted.
Lace is the extreme case: unblocked it is a crumpled rag, blocked it is the photograph on the pattern. Pin firmly and let it dry completely before unpinning.