Knitting is Awesome part 5: Purl, schmurl

Okay.  So here is my secret.  I geek out over purling.  Did you know that the earliest examples of the purl stitch didn't show up until around 400 years after the first knitting?  It's true.  I started wondering about this a few years ago when an online knitting buddy said they know how to knit but not to purl.  And it struck me for the first time that those two things are not inseparable.  Turned out they're not. 

What they did until the purl stitch was discovered/invented we can only speculate.  The knit stitch backwards?  Only work in the round (knitting that is done on connected needles that spirals upward)?  Being all self taught and stuff, I figured out how to knit in the round after someone gave me some double pointed needles.   I figured out how to knit backwards the other day because I was curious to know if I could.  But it cracks my melon to think that it took four hundred years for someone to say, "Hey, if I turn this around and do this, it's so easy and fast and look, I can make patterns!"  Sadly we don't know this person's name.  Was it Purl?  I like to think it was.

But this is why I decided not to show you to how to do the purl stitch until after the finishing work.  Because while simple, it's not actually necessary unless you want to make more textured work and do things like the rib stitch (the stretchy accordion-like edge of your sweater).  Or the moss stitch, which is reversible and quite pretty.  Or even just plain straight smooth fabric called the stockinette stitch.  It rounds out the basics, and adds another dimension to what you can do. 

How to do the purl stitch:

Step 1:  Insert right needle back to front, right to left with right needle crossing in front of the left needle.

Step 2.  Wrap yarn counterclockwise between needles and around right needle to front, hold yarn firmly to the right with right hand.

Step 3.  Push stitch through front to back, right needle crossing under left needle.

Step 4.  New stitch is now on right needle.  Let original stitch slide off of left needle.

Repeat as required. 

Video:



That's it.  You now have the foundations to do just about anything you want to.  Other techniques you could learn to increase your knit prowess:  increasing and decreasing, color work, cabling, sewing seams, and knitting in the round.   Check out Ravelry.com or other knitting based social networks for lots of free patterns, friends and tons of resources.  Or ask me.  I'm not an expert or anything, but I'm pretty darned enthusiastic. 


Terms for the road:


The purl stitch:  the reverse of the knit stitch, the top of the loop (purl bar) is towards the front.  Worked from back to front then front to back, the opposite of the knit stitch.
Increasing:  the act of making new stitches to increase the width of work and the number of stitches in a row
Decreasing:  the act of decreasing the number of stitches in a row, thereby decreasing the width of the work.  Usually accomplished by knitting stitches together or passing a stitch over previous stitch/es.
Color work:  Work involving more than one color.
Cabling:  creating braided looking patterns in work using a third smaller needle and changing the order of the stitches on the needles.
Sewing seams:  assembling work by sewing together.
Knitting In the Round:  Using either two needles connected by a cable or double pointed needles, work that is created in one continuous spiral (no turning and usually no seaming involved).
Stockinette stitch:  Fabric created by knitting and purling every other row.  Smooth on the right side, bumpy on the wrong.
Double pointed needles:  set of four to six needles with points on both ends, used for knitting in the round and cable work.