Hardly any knitting project can do without it - the decreases! Stitches need to be cast off and decreased for armholes, necklines and sometimes also for waists. You can decrease directly in a row, or you can also decrease at certain side edges. Depending on what shape you want to give, the exact place of a decrease can be very important. Here in this blog we would like to explain the different types of decrease in knitting and present different forms of decrease in more detail.
Decrease on the right side
If the decreases are to be made on a right side and this becomes narrower, you decrease stitches right at the beginning of the right side row. To do this, first knit an edge stitch on the right. Slip the following stitch onto the right needle without knitting. Knit the next stitch. Then stitch into the slipped stitch. Pass the slipped stitch over the knitted stitch. Pull the left needle out of the slipped stitch. Continue working the rest of the right side and the left side in the basic pattern. And repeat this until you have reached the desired number of decreases.
Decrease left side
If a piece of knitting is to be narrower on a left side, you have to decrease stitches at the end of each row from the right side. To do this, at the end of a row from the right side, knit together the last two stitches before the edge stitch. From the front, the right needle goes first into the second to last, then into the third to last stitch on the left needle. The thread is pulled through both stitches with the right knitting needle. This creates only one new stitch on the right needle. Knit the edge stitch. Continue working the back row in the basic pattern.
For armholes - decrease stitches on both sides
From a certain height, stitches are cast off to form the armholes. Depending on the individual part, this is only done on one side, like the front parts of a jacket. But mostly on both sides, such as the back and front parts of sweaters. In many knitting patterns, the term "both sides" is used very often. For this, the stitches on the right side are cast off in a row from the right side. After binding off, you can simply continue knitting and then finish the row normally.
If the stitches on the left side were already cast off in the right side, the back row could not be knitted without having to start the thread again. But then, right at the beginning of the back row, the stitches on the left side are cast off, which are now on the side of the knitted piece because the back is facing.
For necklines - decrease the middle stitches
To start the neckline bind off the middle stitches and finish the right and left sections separately, decreasing more stitches on the neckline side. Depending on how many stitches are bound off in the middle and the distance between the further neckline decreases, the neckline will be pointed, i.e. V-shaped, or wider and rounder.
So that the neckline is really in the middle, you have to make sure that there are always two stitches involved when binding off - one that is knitted and the one knitted before, which is pulled over. That's why you have to work one stitch offset so that everything is correct in the end.
