K3tog (knit three together) is a double decrease and is exactly as it sounds…….you knit 3 stitches together, decreasing your total number of stitches by two. It is just like making a regular knit stitch but you work through three stitches instead of one.

How to work a K3tog 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 4 stitches, K3tog, K1.  (8 sts)

I have knit to the last 4 stitches of the row and am now ready to work K3tog:

Step 1

Step 1 – Insert the right hand needle through the next three 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 three stitches, slipping them off the left hand needle.

A double descrease completed.