hi everyone. I'm doing a pattern or a scarf from an old book of my mom's. I don't know how to interpret these instructions in the "special stitches" section:

"For cross st, skip next st, K next st and leave both sts on needle, K skipped st and slip both sts from needle at same time."

The picture of the scarf in the book is small, but it doesn't look like what I've done. my results don't look like anything has "crossed." I knitted into the second stitch, left it on the right needle, then knitted into the first stitch. thoughts? i'm wondering if i'm supposed slip the first st, not skip.

It's a method of doing cabling (twisted stitches) that doesn't involve cable needles. You knit the two stitches out of order: the second one, and then the first one, and the result is a twist, though it will be a clearer effect when you get a few rows down.

(If it's easier, you could do it with a cable (or other spare) needle -- put the first stitch on the extra needle, knit the second stitch, and then knit the first stitch off the extra needle -- which is the same effect, just slightly more bother.

"For cross st, skip next st, K next st and leave both sts on needle, K skipped st and slip both sts from needle at same time."

You skip the first stitch at the end of the left hand needle and knit into the second stitch on the left hand needle. To do that insert the right hand needle like normal into that stitch, yarn around and pull up the new loop onto the right hand needle..stop there, don't move anything off the left needle. Then knit into the stitch you skipped completely normal and then when you slip it off the left hand needle slip the stitch you first knit off the left hand needle as well.

This makes kind of a mini-cable, or a little twist thing. You may be doing it right, but it will take several rows of it before it starts looking like anything. It doesn't really look like a cable, but a vertical row of twists.