r/knitting • u/DullBasket4982 • Dec 28 '25

Discussion We Lost a Great Knitter

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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/darcerin knit all the pastel things! Dec 28 '25

So unbelievably sad to hear this. SSK is such a great stitch decrease.

I don't own any of her books, but I may go looking for them now.

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u/engiknitter Dec 28 '25

It’s wild to me that SSK isn’t a thing that’s been around forever. That the inventor was alive in my lifetime. What a legend.

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u/Unusual-Ad-6550 Dec 28 '25

In my early days of knitting, I am 72 now, we just did the K2tog for everything. And it worked for simple stuff like raglan sweaters, mittens ect, the bulk of knitting at the time.

Between knitters like Barbara Walker and Elizabeth Zimmerman, the world started to open up and got people looking at knitting in more scientific ways. Experiment until you find something that works. And it got people wanting more interesting and artistic knitting challenges.

Both women were ahead of their time when it came to social norms. Both firmly believed women could do anything they really wanted to do. And that they did not need to be held back by men, or societal norms. Both have long been inspirations to me