Stocking stitch
This is probably what most people think of as "ordinary" knitting. It is smooth on the front and knobbly on the back.
To get this effect, you must knit alternate rows knit stitch and purl stitch. The row of knit stitches has the front of the knitting towards you, and this will be smooth. At the end of the row, you turn the knitting round. This means that you see the knobbly, or back, side of the knit stitch row. The row of purl stitches has the knobbly side towards you as you knit, and the smooth side away from you. So the two knobbly effects end up on the same side, towards you, and the two smooth effects away from. you. At the end of the purl row, you turn the knitting round again for the next knit stitch row, and you will see the smooth side, and add another row to it.
Stocking stitch has a front and a back, as these are different. Conventionally the smooth surface is the front, although some patterns may reverse this if they want a different effect. That is called reverse stocking stitch.
If you knit "in the round", then to produce stocking stitch, you knit every row as knit stitch, because you never switch hands for the needles, so never reverse the knitting.
Stocking stitch is also known as stockinette stitch.
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