CSD-yo: centered single decrease with yarnover

I’m shifting from using the “bunny ears” names for a set of four knitting stitch methods, and I’m rewriting the instructions while I’m at it. “Centered single decrease” is a more descriptive name for the basic maneuver. Today’s post is about a variation that has a yarnover in the middle of it.

The goal of this stitch pattern is to start with three stitches, decrease away the center stitch by knitting it together with the stitches to either side, while adding a yarnover in the middle. This turns three stitches into three stitches, but it creates a particular effect that looks good in isolation and also looks good as the bottom point of a lace chevron.

It will probably take a while for me to edit the older stitch patterns on my blog that contain it, but I plan to use it from now on.

Terminology note:

I’m trying to get away from using “left” and “right” needles to help left-handed knitters who work in the opposite direction. (Though they will need to flip the images.) In this post I’m going to say “active needle” for the one the new stitches end up on, and “supporting needle” for the needle holding the stitches from the previous row.

Instructions for centered single decrease with yarnover:

These three stitches on the supporting needle are the stitches that will be turned into a centered single decrease with yarnover, or CSD-yo.

The stitch closest to the tip is stitch A (light green), the middle is stitch B (medium green), and the third is stitch C (dark green).

This method will make stitch B come to the front while also knitting it together with each of its neighbors. There will also be a yarnover above stitch B.

Part 1:

Knit A and B together. Drop A, leaving B on the supporting needle. If B accidentally slips off, pick it up again as described in option two on the centered single decrease post. Bring the yarn forward between the two needles, but don’t make a yarnover yet.

Part 2:

Slip each of B and C knitwise, one at a time.

Part 3:

Insert the supporting needle into stitches B & C from the back.

Part 4:

Knit the two slipped stitches together. Stitches A & B have now been knit together, while stitches B & C make an ssk decrease.. In between those two decreases is a yarnover. Stitch B is wrapped around both the decrease stitches, but not the yarnover

The top of Stitch B will form a horizontal bar through what looks like a bigger open space unless it’s worked together with the yarnover on the next row. Here’s how.

Part 5:

Here is how B looks with the yarnover over it when coming to it on the next row. I’ve marked stitch B with a star in the drawing. It doesn’t look like a regular stitch.

Note: When looking at the back of this, I’ve never been able to figure out which of the purl blips are part of which stitches, aside from the yarnover and stitch B. Rather than make a mistake in the drawn version of this, I’ve traced the relevant bits and put question marks for the rest. They’re not important for this part anyway.

Part 6:

When you come to the yarnover over stitch B, insert the active needle through stitch B from behind and purl both it and the yarnover above it together. Another way to think of this is as the maneuver called purl one below.

If you forget to purl one below

I often forget to do this, but there’s an easy fix when you come to it on the next row.

Part 7:

Here’s how the whole maneuver looks if the purl-one-below is forgotten, with the top of stitch B making a horizontal bar. Sometimes this is a desirable effect, but if you don’t like it, here’s how to fix it. I’ve marked the top of stitch B with a star in the drawing.

Part 8:

Pick up stitch B from the front with the active needle

Part 9:

Slip the next stitch on the supporting needle knitwise, and pass Stitch B over it.

Part 10:

Here’s how things look after Stitch B has been passed over. Now insert the supporting needle into the slipped stitch from behind so you can knit it. (I didn’t make a picture for this.)

That’s it! Now you can go on knitting.