psso — Pass slipped stitch over (Abbreviation)

psso stands for "pass slipped stitch over" — the closing move of a decrease sequence that starts by slipping a stitch, working one or more additional stitches, and then lifting that earlier slipped stitch up and over the newly worked stitch (and off the needle), the same lift-over motion an ordinary bind-off uses, applied mid-row instead of at an edge.

How it's typically worked

A common full sequence reads "sl 1, k1, psso": slip one stitch (usually knitwise for this specific combination, since the twist matches the resulting decrease's intended lean), knit the next stitch, then use the left needle tip to lift the slipped stitch over the just-knit stitch and off the needle entirely.

Why psso rarely appears alone

On its own, "sl 1, k1, psso" is functionally a right-leaning decrease similar to ssk — some patterns use exactly this sequence instead of ssk, particularly older or UK-published patterns where ssk is less standard shorthand. Psso more commonly shows up as the final step of a compound decrease sequence, like sk2p, where it closes out a decrease that reduces three stitches to one rather than two to one.

The lift-over motion, mechanically

Passing a stitch over uses the left needle tip to physically lift the target stitch up and clear over the working needle's tip, then drop it off the back — the same motion used in a standard bind-off, just applied to a single stitch mid-row rather than repeated across a full row.

Related abbreviations

• sk2p — slip 1, k2tog, psso: a double decrease using psso as its final step
• ssk — a related left-leaning decrease that achieves a similar result without a separate lift-over step

FAQ

Does psso always follow a "sl 1, k1" sequence, or can it follow other stitch combinations? It can follow various preceding stitches depending on the specific decrease being built — sk2p uses it after a slip and a k2tog, for instance, rather than after a plain single knit stitch.

Is the lift-over in psso the same motion as binding off a whole row? Yes, mechanically identical — a bind-off is really just a repeated psso motion applied across every stitch in a row, rather than a single isolated decrease.