Knitting More Efficiently – PSSO
Every once in a while, another knitter will show me a way of doing something that transforms my knitting in a profound way. Today, I’m revealing a way to condense a common 3-part decrease (PSSO) into one action.
Left-Leaning Decrease – PSSO
Many patterns or stitch combinations ask you to do the following three steps when doing a left-leaning decrease:
- Slip One
- Knit One
- Pass Slipped Stitch Over
It’s often abbreviated as Sl1, K1, PSSO. It’s pretty simple to do. I have been happy doing it as specified for decades now. Until I started working on my current See Grass Shawl. The pattern stitch has me doing 75 of these decreases every right-side row. I found it wasn’t very efficient and figured out a way to combine the three-step-stitch into a on-step-stitch.
The written description would look something like this:
Insert tip of right needle into first stitch as if to purl and then insert tip into second stitch as if to knit. Wrap the yarn and pull through both stitches, and slipping them off the left needle
I think the video makes it a lot clearer, but then again, I’m much better at being shown something.
Current Knitting/Spinning
Despite getting more efficient at left-leaning decreases, I haven’t made a ton of progress since Friday.
I’m currently at 9 inches and I’m expecting it to end up being 20 inches when it’s all finished.
Length will be about 70 inches based on current calculations as well, although this stitch pattern is similar to ribbing, in that it pulls in when relaxed, but easily stretches out.
Readers’ Comments/Questions
Anonymous Male writes, “I am in the market for a wood swift and ball winder. I am tired of using chairs back to back and winding center pull balls by hand. Any advice?”
Yes…I always have advice for anything yarn-related! My advice is based on how reliant you are on your ball-winder and swift. If you use it infrequently, buy the cheap plastic ones you can buy on those Chinese import sites, like Wish. With shipping (if you’re willing to wait a few weeks) you can get a ball winder and swift for about $35. If you use it more frequently, or you’re looking for a good, reliable, durable, long-lasting set, I recommend a wooden umbrella swift (which you can also find from the Chinese import site). I also HIGHLY recommend the jumbo yarn winder from Fiber Arts Supply. It costs $119, but I use mine all the time and it’s become invaluable.
Thanks for the much more efficient means of doing the PSSO decrease!
Thanks for the tip on PSSO and especially for the video. Also, not sure I should thank you for the referral to Fiber Arts jumbo yarn winder, since I really did not need to spend more knitting money this month. However, the jumbo winder I have is way too complicated (I have to read the book every single time I use it to get it set up). Also I love the idea that I don’t have to clamp it to the dining room table and scratch the finish. It’s only money. 🙂 So, thanks.
The way you’ve shown us looks so much cleaner. No oversized stitches from being passed over! Nice!
Great tip! Thank you!
Doesn’t this method in PSSO result in a twisted top stitch?
Yes. Some people slip the stitch knitwise which wouldn’t work with this revised technique. In fact the photo at the top of the blog entry shows it slipped knitwise. If you google how to do a Sl1, K1, PSSO, about half slip it purlwise and half slip it knitwise.
Thank you! Love this new way of doing it.