The border of this little girl’s A-line jumper demonstrates the techniques discussed in the Skill Builder article. I chose the Shower Stitch I found in Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. Most lace patterns have decreases and yarn overs worked on the RS only while all stitches are purled on the WS. More complicated lace patterns have the decreases and yarn overs worked on both the RS and WS which requires a knowledge of purled decreases.

In the original version of this stitch pattern, p2tog tbl (purl two stitches together through the back loop) was used to produce a left-slanting decrease on the RS. The problem with this version of the decrease is that it produces a twisted decrease which does not match the other decreases in the pattern. For this reason, I have changed it to a ssp decrease.

After the border is complete, stitches are gradually decreased to shape the jumper.