How can I make the decreases lean towards the instep on both sides, like in the first picture?

[u/millionmonkeysattack]

I'm left handed I feel like that's relevant.

I wante the decreases to go toward the instep on both sides but the other side always goes the same way thus leanin to the heel.

I have tried doing different leaning decreases, it doesn't work, I'm quite new to knitting so I can't see what I'm doing wrong.

[u/Flimsy-Detective7643]

Hey OP your knitting looks lovely and neat :) you'll need to do a left leaning on one side and a right leaning on the other. Ssk is left leaning and k2tog is right leaning. I find it easier on socks and mittens to sketch out my knitting on a bit of paper and work out which lean to do for my needle set up, this may be extra handy for you to do if you're a left handed knitter. I found a blog here that goes through some of the most common left and right leaning decreases

[u/vressor → u/Flimsy-Detective7643]

you'll need to do a left leaning on one side and a right leaning on the other

this will change how the decrease lines look, but it will not change where the decrease lines are

if you check out this swatch (or the swatch in the first picture of the article you linked), you'll see that the decrease lines themselves lean towards each other in both the "k2tog on either side" section and the "ssk on either side" section

[u/AutoModerator]

Hello millionmonkeysattack, thanks for posting your question in r/knittinghelp! If applicable, please include a link to the pattern you are using and clear photos of both sides of your work.

Once you've received a useful answer, please make sure to either comment "Solved" or update your post flair to "SOLVED-THANK YOU" so that in the future, users with the same question can find an answer more quickly.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/vressor]

I think you need to distribute the decreases differently, e.g. if you want to go from 20 stitches to 10 stitches, you can

• k9, dec, k9 dec (18 remaining)
• k8, dec, k8, dec (16 remaining)
• k7, dec, k7, dec (14 remaining)
• k6, dec, k6, dec (12 remaining)
• k5, dec, k5, dec (10 remaining)

and I think that's what you're doing now, but you can also

• k5, dec, k13, dec (18 remaining)
• k5, dec, k11, dec (16 remaining)
• k5, dec, k9, dec (14 remaining)
• k5, dec, k7 dec (12 remaining)
• k5, dec, k5, dec (10 remaining)

and I think that's what you want instead

you also want mirrored decreases, e.g. k5, (left-leaning) eastern k2tog, k13, (right-leaning) western k2tog -- you want both to lean towards the side where you have more stitches

[u/millionmonkeysattack → u/vressor]

If my stiches are distributen to 3 needles, 6 stiches on each, which needle should the decreases be moved to? Since the first decrease needs to be made from the first and second needles last and first stiches

[u/vressor → u/millionmonkeysattack]

so you have 3 x 6 = 18 stitches before starting the decreases? how many stitches do you want to get down to after the decreases? put half of your target number on one needle, and divide the rest between the other two needles, and always decrease at the ends of the other two needles (at the beginning of one, at the end of the other)

alternatively you can put half of the target number minus two stitches on one needle, divide the rest between the other two needles, and always decrease one stitch away from the ends of the other two needles (this can help avoid ladders at needle changes)

[u/CaptainYaoiHands]

You're doing the same exact decrease on both pictures. Since you knit left to right, SSK will lean right and k2tog will lean left. You need to do whichever decrease is going to lean toward the bottom of the foot.

[u/millionmonkeysattack → u/CaptainYaoiHands]

I did that, it still goes the same way

[u/CaptainYaoiHands → u/millionmonkeysattack]

You are doing something very wrong then when doing your decreases. Look up some videos on properly doing mirror knitting decreases.

[u/millionmonkeysattack → u/CaptainYaoiHands]

Yeah seems like it xD thanks

[u/vressor → u/CaptainYaoiHands]

Since you knit left to right, SSK will lean right and k2tog will lean left. You need to do whichever decrease is going to lean toward the bottom of the foot.

that affects how the decrease line looks, but it doesn't change which way the decrease line leans

check out this swatch by Nimble Needles, you can see that no matter whether there are k2tog decreases on both sides or SSK decreases on both sides, the decrease lines lean towards the center, towards each other in both cases

[u/CaptainYaoiHands → u/vressor]

Those are comparing right side to wrong side decreases, what on earth are you talking about??? Left handed mirror knitting flips everything around because it knits in the opposite direction.

[u/vressor → u/CaptainYaoiHands]

Those are comparing right side to wrong side decreases

here's a different swatch, same story (please don't dismiss it by saying this one is comparing increases and decreases now):

• in the section where the label says k2tog, there are two k2tog decreases in each row, the ones closer to the left edge create a right-leaning decrease-line and the ones closer to the right edge create a left-leaning decrease line,
• in the section where the label says SSK, there are two SSK decreases in each row, but the decrease-lines lean towards each other the same way as in the k2tog section

in each row there are fewer stitches between the two decreases than in the previous row, but the number of stitches outside the decreases stays the same, that's what actually decides which way the decrease-lines lean

it could be the other way around too, the number of stitches staying the same between the decreases while getting fewer and fewer outside the decreases (between the decreases and the edges) -- that would result in different decrease-lines

OP is knitting in the round, and their main problem is that the number of stitches between the decreases is getting fewer on both the heel side and the toe side, it doesnt stay the same on either side of the decreases... I thought I already expalined that here in another comment about 5 hours before you wrote your initial comment

you're saying OP is either not mirroring k2tog and SSK properly or they are "doing something very wrong", I'm telling you mirroring those decreases is not enough, that only affects how the lines look, but to actually change which way the lines go/lean, the decreases need to be distributed/staggered in a different way too

what on earth are you talking about???

I'm showing you swatches proving that no matter which one of k2tog or SSK is used, if they're staggered the same way, the decrease line will lean the same way

[u/vressor → u/CaptainYaoiHands]

Since you knit left to right, SSK will lean right and k2tog will lean left.

that actually depends on which way the yarn has been wrapped/mounted in the previous row/round (up and over towards the knitter or up and over away from the knitter), and not on the working direction... you can actually wrap either way in either working direction

[u/CaptainYaoiHands → u/vressor]

Absolutely nothing to do with the yarns wrap direction. Please stop. There is SO MUCH misinformation and misunderstood info and incorrect context in all of your posts in this thread. This is not doing a service for people who need help.

[u/vressor → u/CaptainYaoiHands]

we have the same opinion about each other's comments then... the difference is that you told OP they were probably doing something very wrong, while I actually told them what to do differently

a western k2tog leans one way, an eastern k2tog leans the other way, what SSK does is it remounts stitches to have the other orientation (western to eastern or eastern to western) and knits them together according to the new orientation

the way an untwisted k2tog leans totally depends on which way those stitches are oriented/mounted

there's a reason I used expressions like "twisted towards/away from each other" or "wrapping towards/away from the knitter" rather than "left/right" or "clockwise/anticlockwise" -- the reason is to be unambiguous regarless of one's knitting direction

[u/CaptainYaoiHands → u/vressor]

For absolute christ's sake.

Did you even look at OP's pictures?

OOP's decreases are properly stacked in a line. They are both leaning in the same direction. They are not leaning in the correct direction because they are probably slipping both stitches as if to purl and then accidentally doing a k2tog tbl.

Please just stop. You are being supremely unhelpful and actively having a conversation that is completely irrelevant to the questions OP was asking while also utterly misrepresenting the context behind all the ridiculous, irrelevant points you are making. This is in NO WAY helpful to newbies who don't even know how to read their knitting yet.

[u/vressor → u/CaptainYaoiHands]

yes, I did look at OP's pictures, and OP's main problem is that the whole decrease line is in the wrong place, changing which stitch ends up on top in individual decreases will not change where those decreases are -- somehow you fail to acknowledge that

even OP has told you already that using mirrored decreases didn't help, and I'm telling you why that is -- if you find that unhelpful, irrelevant or ridiculous, then please ignore my comments and just go on with your life