Do you know this non-standard double decrease? Abbreviation needed.
2023 update: these days I call this a Double Slip Decrease, or DSD, because other lace designers use that name.
In some circumstances, I like to use a right-leaning double decrease that is not k3tog. That is, it’s a mirror of sl1, k2tog, psso. I do this: slip 1 knitwise, slip 1 knitwise, slip the 2 together back to the left needle so they switch places, and then I knit 3 together. It doesn’t look the same as k3tog; it lies flatter and suits certain designs better. I haven’t found it any of the knitting resources I use, but I am certain I can’t be the only knitter in the world who uses it.
The question is: have any of you encountered it, and do you know of an abbreviation for it? I’d like to stick with standard terminology if at all possible.
(I discussed it in my two posts about double decreases (1, 2 ), but I’m really, really curious if anyone’s encountered it. And my blog readership is bigger now, so maybe?)
Thanks!
I’ve thought about this when knitting before. I have never seen a pattern that attempts to mirror s1k2tog-psso. I’ve considered doing it, but in most applications, the detail goes unnoticed since it’s a non-leaning decrease anyway.
I think you may need to make up your own abbreviation!
Thank you! I’ve actually been getting references to other people’s use of it.
It does actually turn out to make a visual difference in my designs – not by itself, but in how the stitches below and above flow into each other (or don’t flow into each other). I might be remarkably finicky, but I’ve been learning about other stitch pattern designers who prefer it in some contexts. 🙂
I know I’ve used it, and seen it, but I can’t for the life of me remember where. Only thumbed through a few books though. It’s the beginning of the way Barbara G Walker ends her ring cables, but those are usually at least a 5 to 1 decrease, often a 7 to 1.
Thank you! I knew I couldn’t possibly have been the first person to use it. 🙂
Annie Maloney (who writes stitch dictionaries) replied to me on Ravelry – she found it in a book by Barbara Abbey, who calls it a Double Slip Decrease, so Annie Maloney uses DSD. I think I will probably go with that for the long run, just so as to be consistent with another stitch designer, but I might yet change my mind.