Short Rowing (Partial Knitting)

Short rowing is a method that allows you to put needles 'on hold' and knit a row without adding a new stitch onto every needle (called a short or partial row). This allows you to create interesting shapes including non-flat and curved swatches (such as the heel or toe of a sock). It also allows you to knit swatches that have a concave shape, such as a star or the neckline of a jumper.

The terminology for this can be a little confusing so lets make some definitions:

• Working needle - a needle that is currently being knit with (so is in either B or C position)
• Working section - the section of needles that is currently in work
• Hold - the state of not being in work (i.e. in D position)
• Decreasing - reducing the number of working needles therefore means bringing more needles into D position
• Increasing - increasing the number of working needles therefore means bringing more needles back into B/C position

Decreasing

To decrease the number of working needles, we will put some on hold by pushing them out into D position. This must be done on the opposite side of the working section to the carriage.

There are 3 steps to this process:

1. Push needles to be decreasing into D position (on the opposite side of the carriage)

2. Knit 1 row
3. Loop the yarn under the first inside needle in D position and over the remaining needles

If you want to decrease on alternating sides each row, the

LHS	RHS
1
2	2
3	1
2	2
1	3
2	2
...	...