How to Purl

A purl stitch is basically the opposite of a knit stitch.

Here is how to work a knit stitch, which you already know, just to compare:

You start with the yarn in back of your work


and insert your right needle into the first loop on your left needle from front to back.


Wrap the yarn around the right needle counterclockwise


and pull the new stitch through the loop and drop the old stitch off the left needle.



Now, to purl, you are going to do pretty much the opposite for the first two steps. Start with the yarn in front of your work


and insert your right needle into the first loop on your left needle from back to front.


And you finish up basically the same as a knit stitch - wrap the yarn around your right needle counterclockwise


and pull the new stitch through the loop and drop the old stitch off the left needle.


Ta-da! Purl complete :)




Different types of stitches using knit and purl:

Here is an example of K1P1 ribbing, or 1 x 1 ribbing, which is just knit 1, purl 1, knit 1, purl 1, etc. (You can also do K2P2 or K2P1 or P3K2 or whatever. Any number of knits and purls in a repeated pattern like that will create ribbing.)


This is called stockinette. That is when you knit one whole row and then purl the next whole row. This is the right side, or the knit side, which looks like little V's.


And this is the wrong side, the purl side, which is all little bumps.


I don't have a picture of it, but when you knit every row (or purl every row), you come out with bumpy ridges, called garter stitch. (Like the blanket you are making, Alex.)