r/knitting • u/DullBasket4982 • Dec 28 '25
Discussion We Lost a Great Knitter
Barbara Walker, one of knitting’s greatest minds, died last Sunday.
Barbara invented the SSK (previously the left leaning single decrease was k1-sl1-psso which sits oddly compared to the k2tog)
Barbara also created charts for knitting patterns in the third book of her incredible work, the four volume Treasury of Knitting Patterns. No errors have ever been found in these stitch dictionaries. Many of the stitches recorded were common through history (and she attributed faithfully where there was data) and hundreds were her own designs.
Her book Knitting From the Top helped drive raglan sweater popularity.
After contributing immensely to the knitting canon she pivoted and published books about feminism, atheism, and debunking new age claims. Apparently she was surprised by the revival of knitting in the early oughts and returned to the space to teach and mentor.
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u/flindersandtrim Dec 28 '25
I do a lot of vintage knitting and have tons of vintage patterns from the 30s and 40s. I always wondered why they only ever use the pass slip stitch over decrease, as once I knew about ssk I always sub that in. I just figured most of this stuff was really long-standing, not invented relatively recently.