SKP STITCH: Help please!

[equestrian_knitter]

Okay, I'm a relatively new knitter- have knit only scarves, legwarmers, etc. so far. But now I'm knitting a hat and doing just fine... except I can't figure out how to do this stupid "SKP stitch" in the pattern. This is how it is described:

SKP: slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over.

Could anyone please give me an explanation of this. Slip a stitch? :?: Huuhhhhh?? Any help would be appriciated, as I'm new at this! Thanks!

[Hildegard_von_Knittin]

To slip a stitch, all you do is slide it from the left needle to the right needle without knitting a stitch into it. So for the SKP, you would insert your right needle into the next stitch on the left needle, and just slide it off the left needle without knitting into the stitch. Then, knit the next stitch on the left needle like you normally do, resulting in a new stitch on the right needle. Finally, use the left needle to pick up the slipped stitch (the second one in on the right needle) and lift it up and over the "new" stitch you just made on the right needle, just like you do when you are binding off. Hope this helps!

[equestrian_knitter]

Oooh- okay. I think I get it now! So, when you pull the slipped stitch over the knit stitch, do you leave it on the right needle or let it slide off?

[Hildegard_von_Knittin]

Nope, pull it over and let it go, like you do when you're binding off. The SKP is used to decrease the number of stitches, so at the end of that row you will essentially have bound off that stitch and have one less stitch than you started with for each SKP you do.

[equestrian_knitter]

Okay- thank you so much! :D