It’s a phrase that pops up pretty frequently in knitting patterns: “Decrease X sts across the row.”
It saves print space and keeps patterns concise, but if you’re not a whiz with quick calculations, it can seem a little discouraging…
With a piece of scrap paper, though, you can easily work out a simple plan for spacing out the decreases, without even breaking a sweat.
I like to approach the problem in steps, figuring out one thing at a time. When you break it down this way, it’s pretty easy and painless. And as Norah pointed out in one of our conversations on the topic, it’s not the end of the world if your decreases aren’t absolutely, amazingly, perfectly even. If your stitch count is still off by a stitch or two at the end of the row, even it out on the next row and forget about it.
Corbie, the pattern I’m using for my first example.
For this tutorial, I decided to work through two different examples, explaining the process as I go. Let’s get started with an example from this week’s free KnitBits pattern, Corbie. I’m going to follow the directions for a size 2 sweater, so imagine that I cast on 74 stitches for the back and have finished the K2, P2 ribbing, ending with a RS row as the pattern directed.
Here’s what the pattern tells me: “Change to MC and p the next row, dec 30 sts as evenly spaced across as possible – 44 sts.”
Here’s how I’ll decide to space my decreases:
1. If I need to decrease 30 stitches, that means I’ll be working p2tog 30 times. Every p2tog involves 2 stitches, so I’ll multiply 30 by 2 to get 60. Now I know 60 stitches will be involved in the decreases.
2. Now I’ll subtract 60 from my current stitch total, which is 74. That leaves me with 14 stitches that won’t be involved in decreases, but will need to be purled.
3. Here’s what the basics of the row will be: 30 sets of 2 stitches, and 14 stitches sprinkled in between them. Since I don’t like to decrease at either edge of my row, I know I’ll place a few of my 14 stitches at each end.
4. If I only put 1 stitch at each end, that would leave me with 12 stitches to distribute evenly between my 30 p2togs. 30 isn’t exactly divisible by 12, so I’d like to find a number that would divide more evenly. If I decide to put 2 stitches at each end, that leaves me with 10 stitches to distribute between my 30 p2togs.
5. If I plan to work one single stitch after every three p2togs, that will distribute my stitches very evenly and get me down to 44 stitches by the end of the row.
So, for this row, I would work it as follows: P2, [p2tog three times, p1] 10 times, p2.
The successful result of evenly decreasing across a row: the fabric lies flat, with no puckering.
Now let’s try a second scenario. Let’s say that I’ve cast on 82 stitches for a project and just finished working the ribbing, and the pattern instructs me to decrease 14 stitches across my next knit row, leaving me with 68 stitches.
1. If I need to decrease 14 stitches, that means I will be working k2tog 14 times. Every k2tog involves 2 stitches, so I’ll multiply 14 by 2 to get 28. Now I know 28 stitches will be involved in the decreases.
2. Now I’ll subtract 28 from my current stitch total, which is 82. That leaves me with 54 stitches that won’t be involved in decreases but will need to be knitted.
3. Here’s what the basics of the row will be: 14 sets of 2 stitches, and 54 stitches sprinkled in between them. Since the number of decreases is outnumbered by the number of single stitches, I don’t need to worry about keeping my edge stitches free. Instead, I need to divide the 54 stitches up so they’ll fit evenly between my decreases.
4. 54 divided by 14 is approximately 3.8 so I know that if I work 3 stitches before each decrease, I’ll have some stitches left over to put at each side. 14 times 3 equals 42, so that means I have 12 stitches left to distribute before I get to 54. Since I’ll already have 3 stitches before my first decrease, I’ll put 4 of my 12 stitches at the beginning of the row, and leave the remaining 8 stitches at the end.
So, for this row, I’d work it as follows: K4, [k3, k2tog] 14 times, k8.
Now that we’ve gone through two examples, let’s review the basic steps so you can apply them to your own situations:
1. Identify how many decreases need to happen, and determine how many stitches are involved in each decrease. Multiply these two numbers to determine how many total stitches will be involved in the decreases.
2. Subtract the answer to Step 1 from the current stitch total. This tells you how many additional stitches still need to be worked, even though they’re not involved in the decreases.
3. Compare the resulting numbers from Step 1 and Step 2 to determine how many stitches will need to be divided up and spaced evenly.
4. Choose a dividing number that works out easily, placing any remainder stitches at both ends of the row.
Once you break down the individual steps and concentrate on just one part at a time, calculating even decreases becomes a quick and relatively painless task!