Purl stitch
If you are left-handed, then change the option below, and all diagrams and descriptions will alter to suit you.
Animations of Purl stitch - Photographs of Purl stitch - Stocking stitch
Purl stitch is the second basic knitting stitch. It is the opposite of knit stitch. Like knit stitch, the needles are used to make a slip knot through the old stitch on the left needle. This new stitch ends up on the right needle. But as it is the opposite of knit stitch, the surface of the knitting row looks knobbly at the front, and smooth at the back. I will explain why we need purl stitch at the bottom of this page.
A quick summary of the difference between knit stitch and purl stitch is as follows:
Knit stitch: Loose wool at back of knitting. The left needle is pushed behind the right needle when it enters the loop.
Purl stitch: Loose wool at front of knitting. The left needle is pushed in front of the right needle when it enters the loop.
The knitting should start on the left needle, and the wool should be at the front of the knitting. If it isn't, then change hands, and adjust the wool so it is. This description below shows a stitch in the middle of a row, but the first stitch in the row is exactly the same, except there is no knitting on the right needle.
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Push the right needle through the loop of wool in the next stitch, in front of the left needle. |
Comments: The right needle should go in front the left needle. This is important.
Don't stick the needle into the wool. That causes you to split the wool later.
Don't stick the needle into the knot. That means you pick up more than one strand of wool later. The needle should go into the loop of wool. In fact, the two needles should rub against each other.
Keep the knot quite close to the end of the needles but not too close. If it's too far down the needles, then the manipulation of the wool later becomes difficult if not impossible. But if it's too far up the needles, then the knitting slips off a needle, and then you are in trouble. This positioning is something that you have to work out for yourself.
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Loop wool round the front of both needles, then between them. |
Comments:There are no hands in these pictures. There are different ways to hold the wool to do this loop. An experienced knitter will probably have the wool looped loosely round the right forefinger, to guide it to the right place. But you can pick the wool up between fore finger and thumb if you want. You need to pull the wool quite tight after the loop, but not too tight.
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Twist right needle to pick up the wool that is between the needles, and pull out into a loop. |
Comments:This stage is a little tricky, particularly if you have pulled the loop too tight in the last stage.
Pick up the entire width of the wool, don't split the wool with the point of the needle.
Pick up only the wool between the needles, not any other bit of wool.
At the end of this stage, the loop should be easy to make bigger if you want. (If you can't, then you've probably made one of the above mistakes! Slip the stitch off the right needle and start again.)
Once you are happy that this stage is OK, tighten the wool slightly.
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Slip the old stitch off the left needle and tighten. |
Comments:Make sure that you only slip off one stitch, not more than one!
Tighten the wool, enough to keep the knitting in shape, but not so tight that further knitting becomes difficult. You will get used to how much tension you need.
The wool should be at the front of the needles. There should be one less stitch on the left needle and one more on the right needle.
You work your way along the row until all stitches have been knitted. There should be the same number of stitches as when you started!
For the next row, you transfer the needle with the knitting onto the other hand, and knit the next row.
If you knit every stitch of every row as purl, then you end up with exactly the same effect as knitting every stitch as knit stitch - that is, alternate knobbly and smooth, or garter stitch.
The point of learning purl as well as knit stitch is that now you can do alternate knit and purl rows. This is stocking stitch, and produces one side smooth. The other side is twice as knobbly as garter stitch! The reason for this is that purl is the opposite to knit stitch. Knit stitch produces smooth on the front and knobbly on the back. Purl produces knobbly on the front and smooth on the back. But since you turn the knitting round with each row, all the smoothness is on the same side. Stocking stitch is, perhaps, "normal" knitting.
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