Purling Sprite : Loomy Q & A Day

Our Loomy & Question day is here, today's question is on shaping.

Q: I want to translate a needle knit pattern that calls for decreasing. How do I decrease on a knitting loom?

Decreasing on a knitting loom requires the manipulation of stitches from certain pegs to others, we will need to do a k2tog (knit 2 together)or a ssk (slip, slip, knit or in loom knitting--skip, skip, knit).

You will use decreases when shaping, as when shaping a raglan edge on a sweater, or when creating shapes. I created a triangle shape for demonstration purposes (update: the triangle was taken by Wonderboy and has become a monster with many little eyes and two hearts).

The picture below, has a flat panel with 7 stitches. We will be moving the loops as follows (click on all the pictures to enlarge them):

K2tog (knit 2 together): Move the stitch from peg 2 to peg 3. Peg 3 has 2 loops on them. Once knitted, the stitch from peg 3 will be at the one that "shows".

SSK (slip, slip, knit): Move the stitch from peg 6 to peg 5, Peg 5 has two pegs on it.

Move the loops from the outside stitches inwards (stitches on peg 1 and peg 7). Now, you will have 5 pegs with stitches.

Knit the remaining stitches. If the pegs have 2 loops on them, lift over and off the two loops, so only 1 loop remains on each peg.

The process above will decrease the row by two stitches, one at each end. On the right you have a k2tog and on the left you have a ssk.

When shaping raglan sleeves, the pattern will probably say something along the lines of Decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of next row, then you will only decrease on one side. Although the pattern says to decrease at the beginning of the row, you will find that seaming is easier if you place your decrease one or two stitches from the edge.

Here is a close-up look of the tip of the triangle.

Thanks for sending your questions in to Loomy Q & A. Please leave your questions/comments/thoughts in the comments section. Hope you found this tutorial helpful.

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