What does it mean to work into the slst sp |Miss Prim's Roses|

Some time you will come across a pattern that requires you to work your first stitch of a round into the slst sp. So what exactly does this mean ??

Let's take a deeper look...

Rather watch this instead? Check out my video on Happily Hooked for another perspective!

The photo above shows the end of a round where we slst to the beginning. When you check your pattern it will probably tell you to turn your work and place the first stitch into the slip stitch space of the previous round. (If not then your are into a whole different technique that I will discuss in the near future).

Here is where you could make a big mistake (specifically with Miss Prim's Roses) if you are not familiar with this technique.

If we look at the same example from the opposite side after turning, you can see that the slip stitch looks like its behind the ch, but we can still work into it.

So why do I bring this up?

Particularly, because I use this technique in Miss Prim's Roses. If this beginning stitch is not placed in the slip stitch space then the entire piece will shift and twist. The increases will not line up correctly and will cause the yoke to not line up correctly at the split.

Why did I choose to use this technique?

What I like best about this technique is that it lines up the end of each round evenly, eliminating that pesky traveling seam, (you know the one...)

Also, had I chosen to use the first stitch after the slip stitch then the increases would not stack on top of one another and the raglan would be really quirky.

So now let's see what that would look like exactly...

Ultimately we want to place the base stitch into that third double crochet from the previous round. Since the chain stitch counts as an actual stitch we call it a double crochet.

In order to get to that third double crochet we need to skip two stitches. Perfect! That's what the pattern says to do. This happened because that first base stitch was worked into the slip stitch space, essentially bumping the beginning of the round back by one stitch. This is NOT an increase! It is simply a different place to start the beginning of the round.

Confused? That's okay! Check out my video on Happily Hooked for another perspective!

The magic of this technique comes down to what happens when you turn your work. Have you noticed? When we turn our work the direction of the stitches from the previous round shift. They face a different direction and if we do not take this into account then our stitches will not line up the way we want them too for this pattern.

Uh oh, I didn't do that

Not to worry but let's look at why the piece will not come out correctly...

The more common way to start your round is to place your first stitch in the first stitch of the previous round.

However, if the first stitch from the previous round is used as the starting point, all the stitches for that round will move left by one and there is not enough stitches to skip in order to place the base stitch into the third double crochet.

Further, if the base stitch is placed in the next stitch after the third double crochet, then the increases will continue to move and will not stack on top on each other.

Also, when we use the first stitch of the previous round as a starting point the seam begins to walk across the piece and is becomes very visible.