I’ve been alternating through knitting projects recently—three to be exact. I set True Colors aside to work on Alpenglow because it was a fairly simple, single-color project, which was perfect for a flight I was taking to Las Vegas. I love True Colors, but taking 11 different colored skeins of yarn on a plane just wasn’t ideal.

The True Colors pattern calls for an SSK (slip-slip-knit decrease) throughout the knitting. Melanie Berg instructs you to “slip 2 sts one at a time knit-wise to the right needle; return sts to left needle in turned position and knit them together through the back loops.” Easy enough and it effectively and attractively decreases one stitch.

The Alpenglow pattern also calls for an SSK throughout the knitting, but Plucky Knitter instructs it as “slip 1 st knit-wise, k1, pass slipped st over.” Also an effective way to decrease a stitch, but it shows a bit more. It’s not quite as hidden as Melanie Berg’s version of the SSK.

Unfortunately, I ran out of yarn as I was nearing completion of the Alpenglow pattern and had to put it on hold until I could get another skein. So, I went back to knitting True Colors and using that method of SSK. Once the yarn came in, I dropped True Colors and completed Alpenglow. I had to keep reminding myself which SSK to do for which one (my remembery is not so good anymore).

Once I finished up Alpenglow, I went back to True Colors and then picked up an MKAL (mystery knit-a-long) project from Wild Prairie Knits that calls for a slightly different SSK for future clues. This time, the pattern instructs you to “Sl 1 knit-wise, sl 1 purl-wise, k those 2 sts together off the right needle.” This method is fairly similar to Melanie Berg’s SSK, and actually looks a bit better. The stitches on both sides lie flatter and the stitches around the SSK look nicer. Must be something with slipping that second stitch purl-wise. I think it really does make a difference.

Curious to see what they all look like side by side? Here’s a swatch of the three types of SSK (please ignore the YOs). Melanie Berg’s is #1 (right side), Plucky Knitter’s is #2 (middle) and Wild Prairie’s is #3 (left side). I personally prefer the look of #3, but #1 is a close second. They all look pretty similar until you start to look at the stitches around them. In the end, each method gets you the same result, so it’s really up to you which way you want to SSK.

Epilogue
I don’t usually work on three things at a time. I’ve had a bit of knitting fever lately, wishing I had three more sets of hands to work on really great patterns out there. As True Colors progresses, it really has become one of my favorite projects to work on because of the evolution of the gradient colors I selected. I’m excited to share it with you soon!