Master 4 Double Increases & Decreases

Double increases and decreases can be intimidating the first time you try them. You’re knitting along, and maybe you’ve even been knitting for years, and suddenly you find yourself thrown for a loop when you come across an abbreviation like sk2p2 or incto3. “What fresh heck is this?” you might ask yourself. “This must be a typo or some regional knitting thing I’ve not yet encountered.” Or maybe that was just my reaction the first time I found myself faced with a central double increase…

At any rate, there are a variety of double increases & decreases in knitting, but today I want to focus on four of them: central double increase (incto3), central double decrease (sk2p2), knit 3 together (k3tog) & purl 3 together (p3tog). Why focus on these 4 in particular? All four of these are included in The Scarf of Dreams, our current Read Along Knit Along Design, specifically the current section of the pattern we’re all knitting.

For some context: On Ravelry, Instagram & in real life, the Read Along Knit Along is underway! Clue 3 of 4 for our mystery pattern arrived in inboxes this week, and we’ll be knitting our way through section 3 of The Scarf of Dreams pattern while we read part 3 of The Night Circus, the book that inspired the infinity scarf we’re knitting. Even if you’re not knitting The Scarf of Dreams with us during the current knit along, this set of tutorials applies to any knitting project featuring these double increases & decreases. 

4 Double Increases & Decreases for Knitting

I decided to add a whole crop of increase & decrease videos to the Hands Occupied YouTube channel this week, and I’m making sure to keep them easy-to-follow, right to the point, and quick. Most of the time we knitters need remember how to work a stitch we don’t come across every day, we just need a quick refresh – so each of these little tutorials features a demo of each stitch right away, and then I work it one more time so you can see it. Since YouTube is all on-demand, you can be in control of how many times you go back and rewatch how to knit each of these. I hope you all find these useful! These are the first four of many to come, so stay tuned.

Knit 3 Together (k3tog)

A knit 3 together is probably one of the easiest ways to knit a double decrease. Using a knit 3 together, you’re working a double decrease, reducing your stitch count by two. A k3tog is worked just like a k2tog, except you’re working with three stitches instead of two. Check it out in action:

Purl 3 Together (p3tog)

Much like a k3tog is like a k2tog, a purl 3 together is a lot like a purl 2 together worked with one more stitch. Of course, you’ll often work a p3tog on the wrong side of your work (if it has one).

Central Double Decrease (sk2p2, sl2-k1-p2sso, cdd)

How pretty is this decrease? Once again, a central double decrease takes us from 3 stitches to 1 in our knitting, but what’s special about this one is the elegant “spine” formed by how the stitches are passed over each other. An alternative to an sk2p2 could be an sk2p (sl1-k2tog-psso), but the resulting stitches lay just a bit differently with an sk2p2.

Central Double Increase (incto3, cdi)

Last but certainly not least, there’s the central double increase, the most complicated of this quartet. As I say in the video, you often find this increase described in just words in knitting patterns, and it’s pretty hard to understand how to work a central double increase based on text alone. Never fear! I’ve got you covered with this quick tutorial.

The yarn featured in these videos is LB Collection® Superwash Merino Yarn in Dijon & was provided by Lion Brand Yarn.