Comparing Left Slanting Decreases

Many of you will remember my left slanting decrease woes, followed by my challenge to invent a superior left slanting decrease -- nona thinks it's better to solve a problem then to moan and groan about it.  I then proceeded to trot off on vacation and leave you all hanging.  No longer my friends, today I'm going to reveal my results.  After reading all your creative suggestions and comments, I came up with 7 left slanting decreases I wanted to compare.

Here are the decreases I used:

1. ssk -- slip 1st stitch knitwise, slip 2nd stitch knitwise, insert the left needle through the front of these two stitches and knit them together.

2. ssk improved -- slip 1st stitch knitwise, slip 2nd stitch purlwise, insert the left needle through the font of these two stitches and knit them together.  Recommended by Carrie and others.

3. sl1, k1, psso -- slip 1st stitch knitwise, knit 1 stitch, pass the slipped stitch up and over the knit stitch.  Recommended by Purly Whites.

4. June's twist on the back -- "On the wrong side row, figure out which 2 stitches are involved in the decrease. Purl those stitches "backwards" - ie, with the left leg in front of the needle and the right leg behind (wrap yarn in the opposite direction around the needle). Essentially, this obviates the need to do the "slip-slip" part of SSK. When you get to it on the front side, all you have to do is knit the 2 st through the back as normal."  -- June.

5. Dave's evening out the lefties -- "Evening out your lefties is a two-step process. 
   
   1. Do the SSK as slip 1 as if to knit, slip 1 as if to purl, insert left needle into front of stitches and knit them together.
   2. This is the important part. On the non-decrease rows/rounds, knit the stitch in line with that decrease through the back loop.
   This will smooth out the jag by 'lessening' the decreasing stitch and 'pronouncing' the non-decreaseing stitch."  --  Dave.

6. Mei's WS ssp -- "Now if you want to get technical, the true perfect match to the K2tog is the SSP. (Slip 2 sts 1 at a time as if to knit, return them to the left needle, then purl them together thru the back loop.) Yes, it must be done on the purl side..." -- Mei

7. nona's crossed stitch left slanting decrease -- It's a variation on k2tog, but before knitting the 2 stitches together I swapped their positions, keeping the first stitch in front -- so it crosses to the left.  Here's how:
   1. Slip 1st stitch purlwise onto a cable needle and hold in front
   2. Slip next stitch purlwise to the right needle
   3. Slip the stitch on the cable needle back to the left needle
   4. Slip the stitch on the right needle back to the left needle
   5. k2tog
   Several of you have suggested alternative ways to cross the stitches without using a cable needle.  I experimented with these suggestions, but found using the cable needle did make a big difference for me.

The next question is, which is my favorite?  I actually have two favorites; #3 sl1, k1, psso and #7 my crossed stitch left slanting decrease.  Now it's your turn to make a swatch and decide which is your favorite.

Last, but not least, the prizes.  I loved the spirit of all the left slanting decrease commenters and hate picking "winners" -- thank goodness for random number generators.  And the random number generator says Anonyknits is our winner.  Please email me your snail mail address and I'll send your prize out.