K2tog (knit two together) is one of the most common ways to decrease the number of stitches on your needle and is exactly as it sounds…….you knit 2 stitches together, decreasing your total number of stitches by one. It is just like making a regular knit stitch but you work through two stitches instead of one.

How to work a K2tog decrease

So I have cast on 10 stitches and worked a few rows in stocking stitch, on the next knit row the instructions are :

Knit to last 3 stitches, K2tog, K1.  (9 sts)

I have knit to the last 3 stitches of the row and am now ready to work K2tog:

Step 1

Step 1 – Insert the right hand needle through the next two stitches on the needle, from front to back (as you would if you were knitting a normal stitch).

Step 2

Step 2 – Pass the yarn around the back, up and over the front of the right hand needle (as you would if you were knitting a normal stitch).

 Step 3

Step 3 – Pull the yarn through the two stitches, slipping them off the left hand needle.

One descrease completed.

On the above sample I have worked a few more rows with a K2tog decrease near the end of each knit row. This decrease slants to the right on the knit side of the work.