English abbreviation · Crochet and knitting
What does sk mean in crochet and knitting?
sk means skip a stitch.
In French: sauter une maille
How to work it
To skip, written “sk”, is to pass over a stitch of the row below without working into it. The stitch stays where it is, and you go straight to the next one. Nothing is made on the skipped stitch.
Look at the row below and find the stitch the pattern wants you to skip. Do not insert the hook there. Insert it into the stitch that follows, and work the stitch the pattern names.
A pattern may say “sk 2 sts”, and then you pass over two stitches. The number after “sk” always counts stitches of the row below, not stitches of the row you are making.
Skipped stitches usually go together with chains. The chain made just before, such as “ch 1”, bridges the gap and makes a small space in the fabric. That space is what makes lace, mesh and shell patterns. Without the chain, the fabric would just close up.
In a pattern
Row 2: ch 3, sk first st, dc in each st across, turn.
Take the row “Row 2: ch 3, sk first st, dc in each st across, turn”. “Row 2” is the second row. “ch 3” is the turning chain, three chains that lift the hook to the height of a double crochet. “sk first st” means you skip the first stitch of the row below, the one at the foot of the chain, because the chain stands in for it. “dc in each st across” means one double crochet in every following stitch until the end of the row. “turn” means flip the work. This row has no number in brackets, so count your stitches against the row before it.
US or UK?
Identical. “Sk” means skip in American patterns, and British patterns use the same abbreviation, sometimes written “miss” in full words, as in “miss 2 sts”. The gesture is the same. Only the stitch names change between conventions, and here “dc” would be “tr” in a British pattern.
Common mistakes
- Skipping the wrong number of stitches. If the pattern says “sk 2”, working into the first and skipping only one leaves the row a stitch too long, and the fabric slowly bends.
- Forgetting to skip at the start of a row when the turning chain counts as a stitch. You then work a stitch into the foot of the chain as well, and the row has one stitch too many. Compare the total with the row before.
- Skipping a stitch of the row you are making instead of the row below. The skipped stitch is always in the previous row. If your work has no gap, you have probably skipped in the wrong row.
A tip
A skipped stitch leaves no trace, so it is easy to forget in a long row. Say it aloud as you go, “work, chain, skip”, and keep a finger on the skipped stitch until the hook has gone into the next one. If your rhythm breaks, back up and re-read the group.
Try it with a row from your pattern
Here is a row that uses it. Replace it with a row from your pattern: every abbreviation the reader knows is underlined, and its meaning shows on hover.
Row 2: ch 3, sk first st, dc in each st across, turn.