# Question



## Sanibean (Apr 8, 2010)

Could someone explain to me the difference in SSK and Knit two together through the back loop. When doing SSK, it looks the same to me.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

One slants to the right (K2tog) the other slants to the left (SSK) http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/decreases That's why when you use them for socks you get those lovely toe decreases


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Whoduhthunk knitting was so closely related to politics...... ?:smack


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

Oh, Forerunner, thanks for the laugh-out-loud. I like your quick wit.


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## PollySC (Jan 17, 2006)

For those (like me) who don't knit the "right way", SSK and K2tog do look the same. All my other stitches look right but I knit and purl in the back loop all the time and I know it's wrong, but it's the way I learned. Yes, I've already sought professional help from expert knitters, but since my end result looks the same, I'm not changing. So, to slant the decreases in opposite directions, I K2tog where it says SSK, and vice versa, remembering on the SSK to give the stitches a twist.

This information applies only to those who knit like I do (where SSK and K2tog look the same and mess up the pretty decreases), and should be disregarded by those who knit the correct way.


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## Katherine in KY (May 11, 2002)

SSK and K2 tog. through the back loop are the same and slant to the left. I think someone figured out that it's a whole lot quicker to do the second rather than the first. For those who knit conventionally, k2tog through the front of the stitch slants to the right.
HTH, 
Katherine, coming out of lurkdom


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## Sanibean (Apr 8, 2010)

That is exactly what I though Katherine in KY. Thank you.


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## sheepish (Dec 9, 2006)

The confusion is exactly why I prefer charts or instructions that give the result (left-leaning decrease) rather than how to make a stitch. 

I knit continental held, combination (the best way to knit :duel and I hate having to interpret patterns while knitting.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

sheepish said:


> The confusion is exactly why I prefer charts or instructions that give the result (*left-leaning decrease*) rather than how to make a stitch.
> 
> I knit continental held, combination (*the best way to knit* :duel and I hate having to interpret patterns while knitting.


I still say that confrontational threads like this belong in GC, if not the political forum. Where's a moderator when you need one ?:soap:


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I'm right HERE Forerunner!  ound:


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Oh, um...... hi.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

I think it depends how you slip - if you slip tip to tip you don't change the stitch mount, and then the ssk will be the same as k2togback ... but if you change the stitch mount as you slip, you turn the stitches as you slip them, and then the resulting ssk will be tilted opposite of a K2togback.

I think.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

I just love the threads where there's two distinct conversations going on.....and the serious one does a fantastic job of ignoring the other.....


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Forerunner that's because in knitting there are absolutes. AND it's because there are NO absolutes great guys like you are allowed to knit the way you do


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## Katherine in KY (May 11, 2002)

Keeping on the serious side . Frazzle. you're right. But usually the directions for SSK say to slip the stitches as if to knit, i.e., don't twist them.


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

Wow, doesn't that also mean they are actually made in the USA? I like what I'm hearing about them.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

PollySC said:


> For those (like me) who don't knit the "right way", ...... All my other stitches look right but I knit and purl in the back loop all the time and I know it's wrong, but it's the way I learned.





sheepish said:


> I knit continental held, combination (the best way to knit :duel


PollySC, The way _you_ are knitting is still the "right way". Like sheepish said, it is called combination ... I found the other day on Ravelry, that some folks are calling it the "Russian Technique". Good videos that show it real well.

ForeRunner ... Pay Attention!! :grin: This is the technique I taught you. The videos are showing right handed knitting, so you might want to watch them by holding a mirror in front of your screen or holding the screen upside down or something.


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## PollySC (Jan 17, 2006)

Thanks, Cyndi, "combination" and "Russian Technique" sound so much better than "wrong".


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## sheepish (Dec 9, 2006)

Actually I just found out that what I use is Russian technique. I had never even heard of it until a few days ago. I watched a video and realized that is exactly how I knit. So now I realize that Russian is the best knitting technique. It is different from combination.

Now can all of us, those who knit right and those who knit wrong, agree on a set of terms that makes the desired product clear, rather than confusing us with needle motions. 

If I Knit 2 together through the back of a loop of knit stitches, I get a left leaning decrease. To make a right leaning decrease, I knit 2 together through the front of the loops. SSK creates a useless motion that doesn't make any sense in my way of knitting.

Please, please help me to convince pattern writers that saying k2togSR, k2togSL, is a much clearer way to express what the writer intends :soap:.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Good luck with that, really. I think left handed knitters have struggled with the differences for ever (?). Then you have the way things are written in different countries. Patterns written in the British Isles have different terms than those written here in this country, and I'm sur that is true of many different parts of the world. I agree it would be nice but I seriously doubt it will ever happen. Like most other things in life you just have to find your own way to do things, whatever works for you.

And, as I've told others, if anyone ever tells you that you are doing something wrong, turn around and walk away. It isn't wrong it's just different, and there are many different ways to get fromoint A to point B. If it work and it's comfortable for you who cares how you do it?!


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Marchwind said:


> And, as I've told others, if anyone ever tells you that you are doing something wrong, turn around and walk away. It isn't wrong it's just different, and there are many different ways to get fromoint A to point B. If it work and it's comfortable for you who cares how you do it?!


Tell that to my ninth grade algebra teacher.

:sob:


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Yea FR I'm sure I had the same teacher. It has taken me many years of undoing the work "good" teacher did to me. So you just erase those negative thought from your head. HERE on this forum, you an do NO wrong! No one will ever be told they are doing something wrong and if you are I want to hear about it pronto! Got it?


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

*wipes his tears and nods enthusiastically*


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

We love you, Forerunner.. just the way you are.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

I had a male friend and his family come over to visit yesterday..... new acquaintances.
He was shocked that I knit. 
(I was working on a rather gender neutral to masculine scarf--black/gray--to pass the time) I tried explaining casually that I saw it as a valuable skill in any event, and that I just rather enjoyed the tranquility it instills. 
He wasn't satisfied.
His wife and daughter, right there, listening intently (and fascinated by what they must have perceived as genuine skill in my work :shrug I leaned in close to his face and whispered hoarsely, "you know, the truth is, I got so much testosterone flowing through my veins...... I gotta knit just to keep from killing people".
That revelation started to cut to his chase. I let that sink in, then said," pray I don't run out of yarn".


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## Mrs. Homesteader (May 10, 2002)

Forerunner said:


> I leaned in close to his face and whispered hoarsely, "you know, the truth is, I got so much testosterone flowing through my veins...... I gotta knit just to keep from killing people".
> That revelation started to cut to his chase. I let that sink in, then said," pray I don't run out of yarn".


Why do I hear music starting in the background when I read the above!!!


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## menagerie momma (Sep 29, 2008)

" pray I don't run out of yarn".


:hysterical: AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ound:

*pondering the theory that this may be the *real* reason DH gave me a spinning wheel - he's thinking, "saints preserve us if she runs out of yarn!"*


Jessie

*Edit: For the record, I DO NOT have an excess of testosterone - though I am sure that's a fine thing for a man's man! However, I do find knitting smoothes out the rough edges, and I feel less....disgruntled.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

OMG Forerunner, that is hysterical! How long did it take and did they even react? You should have told him that it's also a great way to meet women, not that you or he are in the market. But you get to know us in a nonthreatening sort of way, unless we run out of yarn that is  LOL!


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Well, he and his family have been here a few times, and they're getting to know me, so....

They did have a good reaction. Kind of a wide-eyed look at first and then a good laugh.
The looks were priceless.

He's still puzzled, somewhat, poor guy.

I did have Rachel bring her sweater down, and of course that did it for the women-folk.
They were all kinds of "how did you.....? how do you.....? after that.

K2P2 is no end of fascination to them.


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

WOW, you mean.......that if I could just teach my DH to knit........THAT would SOMEHOW magically reduce/get rid of/ tame!!! ALL his testosterone?!?!? WHY in the *$^^%&^*^%$ didnât someone tell me this information YEARS ago???? CRAP, is that all it takes? THANKS for letting us in on how to take care of this FR ;o) LOL


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Well, to be honest, there are definitive steps that must be taken.
Knitting is only one of them.


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## weever (Oct 1, 2006)

My goodness. I've been avoiding this thread (and missing out on all the fun) because it looked so technical and I'm still basically a non-knitter. 

Could we have a secret signal from the moderators indicating that there's a party going on in certain threads?

Like maybe instead of Question it could be marked as ~*~>Question<~*~ so we'd know to come and take a peek, even if the original post is not pertinent to our daily lives...

We all need a little laughter.


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

O I C..........you must have to add something like the MW factor..........
*!#[email protected]%*& (translation = something about big bags of fiber and rolling around?)


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

LOL! Weever haven't you noticed a pattern? There is ALWAYS thread drift when certain people get involved  No names of course. I don't mind thread drift as long as the original question gets answered and I think this one did. But I will see what I an do on the secret coding  I don't always read all the threads either.

And Weever, if you knit at all, you ARE a knitter plain and simple.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

weever said:


> My goodness. I've been avoiding this thread (and missing out on all the fun) because it looked so technical and I'm still basically a non-knitter.
> 
> Could we have a secret signal from the moderators indicating that there's a party going on in certain threads?
> 
> ...


Who's laffin', already ?

I do agree with Marchwind..... and I don't mind mentioning names.
The second post from GAM in any given thread is bound to send the topic off to never-never land.....:nono:


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## weever (Oct 1, 2006)

Forerunner said:


> Who's laffin', already ?
> 
> I do agree with Marchwind..... and I don't mind mentioning names.
> The second post from GAM in any given thread is bound to send the topic off to never-never land.....:nono:


I just checked. GAM has not posted in this thread. At all. :hrm:


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Telekinesis!!! 
















Man, she's good.:bow:


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

YEAH, we ALL know GAM&#8217;s got it goin&#8217; on like that! 
LOVE YA GAM!


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Roflmao!!!!!:hysterical:


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## Mrs. Homesteader (May 10, 2002)

In my Mom's words... Y'all are a mess!!!


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## grams (Sep 10, 2004)

JDog1222 said:


> WOW, you mean.......that if I could just teach my DH to knit........THAT would SOMEHOW magically reduce/get rid of/ tame!!! ALL his testosterone?!?!? WHY in the *$^^%&^*^%$ didnât someone tell me this information YEARS ago???? CRAP, is that all it takes? THANKS for letting us in on how to take care of this FR ;o) LOL


Nope, hate to burst your bubble, but if my husband and Forerunner ever meet they would either growl and it would be on like these two silly male canines of ours or..... they would walk all around look at the other's projects grunt and scratch and go home and talk about what a great time they had. DH is another lefthanded male knitter. Sharp pointy sticks and string! Testosterone heaven!


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## katy (Feb 15, 2010)

Goodness, this thread wasn't nearly so uhhhhhhh, interesting a couple of weeks ago. Therefore it appears that y'all are partaking of Spirits and or suffering from Spring Fever, who knows maybe it's BOTH.

JDogg, get your bags of fleece ready.

Oh and just where is GAM ? Do come and join the fun, you know, jesting with FR and other unsuspecting knitters............lol


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

I'll bet she's had to lock herself in the closet to keep from responding to _this_ thread.


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

katy said:


> JDogg, get your bags of fleece ready.




NO WAY, that is one THING you NEVER do :nono: provoke a male with THAT much testosterone. You should be able to tell from this response, that I TOO live with a male with NOTHING but just THAT running through his veins!!!!!!!!

For crying out loud..........every time the bath water is running I am reminded of PAVLOV, if you know what Iâm SAYING! I donât want him to be conditioned to my FIBER too! Although.........I sure would end up with a LOT of fiber that way! :heh: Hmmmmmmmm


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