Two ways to a neater ssk

A short and sweet tip for you this week. If you find that your ssk stitches look a little loose or distorted this is for you.

SSK is the abbreviation for a left-leaning decrease. Two stitches are slipped knit wise, separately to the right hand needle, then are knit together. This introduces a twist into the stitch though, which can be irksome and stand out a little in the finished piece.

Alternative 1: Slip the 1st stitch knit wise and the 2nd stitch purl wise, then knit them both together.

Alternative 2: Work the ssk as normal but on the next row purl through the back loop (or ktbl if working in the round)

Both of these methods help to untwist the stitch and produce an ssk which lies flatter in the finished work.

Anything you'd like me to cover in this series? Please let me know in the comments.

5 top tips for travel knitting

The dedicated knitter will invariably want to maximise their knitting time by knitting 'on the go'. Whether you have a 10 hr flight or a 10 min doctors wait - it pays to be prepared.

1. Always take a photo or a screenshot of your pattern. Just in case you lose your paper copy or you don't have wifi to access your digital one.

2. Don't risk scissors getting lost, confiscated or damaging your bag. Use tiny Hiya Hiya snips or - my favourite - the cutter on a little pack of dental floss.

3. Always have a small notebook and pen/pencil in case of ad hoc pattern adjustments. Relying on memory alone is a bold move.

4. Keep a small notions case/tin in your handbag or project bag. You never know when you'll need an emergency stitch marker - a bulb pin can catch a dropped stitch until you can rectify it later.

5. Finally - consider stowing an emergency ball (ready wound) of sock yarn and DPNs in your car's glove compartment. I do this ever since I was stuck sans-knitting on the M11 for 5 hours.

Any top travel tips? Do let me know in the comments.

How to keep track of repeats in your knitting using bulb pins

It’s no secret that I love these little bulb pins. They are endlessly useful - so much so that I wrote a blog post about them a while ago - read here.

But did you know that you can make use of them as a motivational aid?

Here's a quick tip for keeping track of pattern repeats.

1. Create a chain a bulb pins corresponding to the number of repeats

2. Every time you finish a repeat, remove a pin

3. For added bonus points, clip it to your knitting to mark the repeat

4. When you run out of pins, you've completed all the repeats

Simples! There’s something very satisfying about working your way through the little links - a kind of countdown marker to completion.

This also works for keeping track of increases/decreases or any time you want to make a note of how many times you do a particular thing. I sometimes use it if I need to do a lot of rows or rounds and I don't want to stop to keep counting. I just mark them off every 5 rounds - or whatever is easy to count at a glance.

If you have a favourite use for these little beauties please do let me know.

Oh - and as an aside. I found out today that an alternative name for them is Calabash pins - named after the distinctive gourd. Every day is a school day!