Eno Twist – an unusual decrease

eno twist

Here, at last, is the unusual double decrease I unvented for a shawl that I’m in the midst of writing up. The shawl is called Eno River, and so I called this the Eno Twist, because the abbreviation got a little unwieldy otherwise: SSTSKPSSOYO2K3tog? Yeah, I don’t think so.

This is not a usual sort of double decrease. A normal double decrease takes three stitches and turns them into one. This one takes six stitches and turns them into four. Only two stitches are decreased, though perhaps I shouldn’t really call it a double decrease.

You won’t see this decrease in its original habitat until the Eno River shawl pattern is available, but it looks pretty nifty in a column as shown above, so maybe you’ll want to play around with it and use it for your own devices. Raglan decreases, maybe? Go for it!

Summary: start with six stitches on the needle. The first thing is that the middle two stitches are going to change places. The next is that you’ll knit a left-leaning double decrease, make two yarn overs, and then knit a right-leaning double decrease.

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These are the six stitches I worked with.

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Slip each of A and B, knitwise.

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Bring the needle between C and D, from behind, and slip D knitwise. You can catch hold of C, let it hang loose, or use a cable needle: your choice. In any case, put C back on the left-hand needle.

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Knit A, B, and D together to make a left leaning decrease (as in SSSK) then yarn over twice. Knit C, E, and F together to make a right-leaning decrease.

Note: if you’re a combination knitter, you’ll need to reseat C, E, and F to make this possible. If you don’t recognize the phrase “combination knitter”, this probably doesn’t apply to you. (I’ll be writing more about this in the next couple of weeks, though.)

On the next row, knit the first loop of the double decrease and purl the second (doesn’t matter if you’re working flat or in the round, the result is the same).

If you use this in a project or pattern, I’d love to know. If you’ve seen this before somewhere else, that would interest me too. Thanks!

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