Slip Stitch (Knit): How to Do It Step by Step

Slip Stitch (Knit) is a knitting stitch that makes elongated stitch; used for edges, heel flaps, and mosaic color patterns. Makers reach for it for heel flaps, neat selvage edges, mosaic colorwork, decreases. It is rated beginner here, so it is a good stitch to learn early and practice on a small swatch before a real project.

1. Insert the right needle into the next stitch as if to purl, unless the pattern says knitwise. 2. Move the stitch to the right needle without wrapping yarn. 3. Keep the yarn in back unless the pattern says with yarn in front (wyif). 4. Continue with the next stitch as instructed. Work slowly for the first few repeats, keep your tension even, and check the result against the steps before continuing across a whole row or motif.

US patterns abbreviate slip stitch (knit) as sl. UK patterns use the same abbreviation, sl, so this one reads the same on both sides of the Atlantic. Pattern keys list every abbreviation used, usually near the materials list.

The most common problems are: slipping knitwise by default, which twists the stitch; carrying the yarn on the wrong side; pulling the strand behind a slipped stitch too tight. Most are easy to spot if you pause after a few repeats and compare your work with the steps. Good light helps a great deal, especially with dark yarn or thread.

Stitches closely related to slip stitch (knit) include Linen Stitch (Knit), Slip Slip Knit, Brioche Stitch (One Color, Flat). Learning them together makes patterns easier to read, because many designs switch between related stitches to change texture, height or line. Each has its own step-by-step page in the stitch dictionary.