Have you ever wondered how we can decrease stitches in 2×2 and other types of ribbing without disrupting the structure of the fabric?
I faced this question a some time ago as I was shaping the sleeves of a top-down sweater worked entirely in “knit 2, purl 2” rib. The method suggested in the pattern was a bit cumbersome, and the resulting decreases didn’t look great.
So I set out to find a better option, and now I am happy to share with you a way that is so easy that even beginner knitters will have no problem using it to shape hats, sweaters and other projects worked in 2×2 rib, or other ribbing patterns.
This method forms neat decreasing lines that merge perfectly with the texture of the fabric and look elegant on any type of ribbing.
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It all boils down to three simple steps.
STEP 1. PLANNING
With the right side of the fabric facing you, find a column of knit stitches that you’d like to turn into the line of decreases.
Place a marker one knit stitch away from the spot where you plan to make decreases. This knit stitch will work as a guide. It will make sure the decreased stitches follow a clean line.
If you are about to work mirrored shaping, for example, to shape armholes of a sweater, find a guiding knit stitch at the other edge of the fabric, and place a marker to separate that stitch from the part of the project that won’t be affected by decreases.
In my swatch, this part is made of two stitches at the edge of the fabric—the selvedge stitch and the other stitch in this column of two knit stitches.
STEP 2. LEFT-LEANING DECREASE
When we want the line of decreases to curve to the left, we work in the established pattern until we get to the marker right before the guiding stitch.
Then we work a “slip, slip, knit” decrease. The classic version of this decrease works great, but I prefer to use a simplified version that saves us one step of the process. Here’s how it works:
Slip the guiding stitch knitwise to the right needle. To do that, insert the tip of the right needle from left to right into that stitch, then ease the left needle out, leaving the guiding stitch on the right needle.
Insert the tip of the left needle from left to right into the slipped stitch so that the left needle is in front of the right needle.
Push the tip of the right needle a bit farther so that it enters the second stitch from the tip of the left needle.
Wrap the tip of the right needle with the yarn as we do when we knit a stitch and pull this wrap through, knitting these two stitches together through the back loop.
Once we decrease a stitch, we continue to work in pattern, but not in the original ribbing pattern (like “knit 2, purl 2” pattern in my swatch), but in the “established pattern”. That means that we knit the stitches that look like knits, and purl the stitches that look like purls.
STEP 3. RIGHT-LEANING DECREASE
When we want the line of decreases to curve to the right, we stop when we get to a spot that is two stitches away from the marker. These two stitches are the guiding stitch and the stitch that should be decreased.
Then we make a “knit 2 together” decrease as follows:
Insert the tip of the right needle from left to right into the first two stitches from the tip of the left needle.
Wrap the right needle with the yarn as we do when we knit a stitch, and pull this wrap through knitting these two stitches together as one stitch.
Continue to work in the established pattern, knitting the knits and purling the purls.
Note that decreased stitches changed the ribbing pattern next to the lines of decreases, so it is very important to work in the established pattern instead of following the same “knit 2, purl 2” sequence.
The pattern will be fully restored only after we decrease the number of stitches that form a pattern repeat. For example, to restore the pattern worked in 2×1 ribbing, we need to decrease 3 stitches at each line of decreases. For 3×3 ribbing, it will be 6 decreases.
Because my swatch is worked in 2×2 ribbing, the pattern was restored after I made 4 decreases at each line of decreases.
Also note that the wrong side of the shaping doesn’t look the same as the right side. It doesn’t look bad, just different. Keep that in mind when you decrease stitches of scarves, shawls, blankets, and other reversible projects.
Here’s how my swatch looks on the wrong side of the work.
When we use this approach to form straight lines as we shape a crown of a hat, we will make a right-leaning decrease (step 3) at the right side of each line of shaping, and a left-leaning decrease (step 2) at the left side of the line.
This method works great for 1×1, 2×1, 2×2, 2×3, 3×3 and any other kind of ribbing pattern. Just choose the guiding knit stitch that will mark the line of shaping and make left-leaning decreases at the left side of that stitch, and right-leaning decreases at its right side.
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This and 31 other in-depth tutorials are part of Knitting Collection #8.