Chances are that if you’re making a hat, mittens, socks, or a sweater, you’re going to be decreasing. Chances are even better that one of the decreases you’ll be using is a knit two together (k2tog). The most popular right-leaning decrease, k2tog is a knitting essential. It’s also super easy! The basic gist of a k2tog is that you make a normal knit stitch, except instead of inserting the right needle into one stitch, you insert it into two. Just like it sounds, you really do just knit two together! Here’s a video of how to work this stitch, followed by the same thing written out…

To work a k2tog, insert the tip of the right needle into the front leg of the second stitch on the left needle, just as if you were making a normal knit stitch. Keep going with the right needle and slip it into the first stitch on the needle, again, as if to knit. The front legs of both stitches are now on the right needle. Next, wrap the working yarn counter clockwise around the right needle. Pull the yarn through both stitches and allow them to fall off the left needle, just as you would a single stitch.

Ta da! Two stitches are now one: a right-leaning stitch on the right needle. A k2tog’s right-leaning nature comes in handy when you want decreases to follow the slope of something like a raglan line or a thumb gusset, which leads us to k2tog’s left-leaning buddy, the slip slip knit (ssk). It’ll come in handy in those situations and you can learn all about it right here!