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How to Purl Stitch

Lesson 6 from: Knit Maker 101

Vickie Howell

How to Purl Stitch

Lesson 6 from: Knit Maker 101

Vickie Howell

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Lesson Info

6. How to Purl Stitch

Next Lesson: How to Rib Stitch

Lesson Info

How to Purl Stitch

Alright, we've learned the knit stitch and now we're going talk about purling. So the, purling first off. Lemme step back, start again. Purling is the exact opposite of knitting. The combination of using the knit stitch on one row and the purl stitch on the next row is called stockinette stitch or stocking stitch depending where you are geographically and it's probably the most recognizable of all of the stitch patterns. It's what, you know, the most common sweaters are made of, what anything that's really super-fine knit like actual fabrics would be in stockinette stitch and you can see it over in this piece right here. This is your very traditional looking knit piece. The one thing that I do wanna point out before we get started is you'll notice that it's curling. This stitch does that. It doesn't matter how tight, how loosely you knit it just does that. So would have to create a border on a piece which is something that we can talk about later for it to lay flat. But this is just a ...

go-to stitch that you will use for sweaters and hats and really scarves, if you do a border, really sort of, this is kind of like an everything stitch which is really fun. So, on all right sides for this stitch, you would do the knit stitch which we already covered and on wrong side we'll do the purl stitch. Before we get started though I wanna show you, we're gonna working. There is another bonus material project that you're gonna getting which is the stitch sampler scarf. And it uses a combination of almost all, no I think all of the stitches that you're gonna learn in this class so it'll be kind of like this wearable this wearable badge of honor of knitting right? So, but I did wanna show you, the stockinette portion, is right here. The reason why I wanted to pull it in is because I really wanted to show you that not only does this stick kinda change the way that a piece looks artistically but also the yarn can really do a huge amount for the sort of like head turning factor of it. This is a beautiful hand dye yarn by, I believe Malabrigo, and you can just see how the color plays with the little vees of the stitches. All right, let's move that out of the way, and let's get to purling. All right, so... I've already, I have this piece that I've already started a little bit in. I've already knit all the way on the right side row, so now I'm ready to purl. So purl stitches look like little bumps, and you can see the back here. There's just a bunch of little bumps. This is actually what the back of the knit stitch looks like too, and you'll, you'll remember in that garter stitch piece from earlier, it looked like a bunch of bumps from all of the pieces, or all of the stitches laying on top of each other. All right, so because it's the exact opposite of the stitch, instead of coming, of the knit stitch, instead of coming up through the stitch, we're gonna come down through it this time. You also wanna make sure that you're yarn is in front, so we're coming down, again holding the yarn, very, or exactly the same as I did for the knit stitch. I'm kind of putting it around my forefinger, and then just using my other fingers as a guide. We're going to wrap it around the front needle this time instead of the back, counter clockwise, and then we're gonna dip again, but this dip, you have to do like a little, like a little wrist flair for it to stay on the tip of the needle, because you're pulling out the loop this way, sort of in the back, 'kay? So now that's the new stitch you've created. Remember, we ditch it on the left needle once it's on the right needle. So then we just let the other one slide off. All right, so now we have one stitch purled. 'Kay, so our yarn still stays in the front with, with the right hand needle, we're gonna go down through the next stitch, wrap it around that front needle, dip, and slip it off. Down, around, dip, slip. And you're just gonna do that all the way... Across your piece. Some people find this stitch a little bit more challenging than the knit stitch. If you can not think of it as being so different that, than the knit stitch, but just really, you just come at this stitch a little bit differently. It's, it's not any harder at all. All right, I'm gonna slow down one more. Comin' down, comin' down through the first stitch, wrappin' it around, dipping to find that new stitch, slipping it off, all right? And then we finish. Flip the piece over, and since this is stockinette, as I mentioned before, from here, you would just get started knitting as we learned in the earlier lesson. You just keep going in that pattern until either you felt totally satisfied or until the pattern tells you to stop. All right. I think we are ready to move on.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Beanie Pattern
Gauge Swatch Symbol
Knitting Abbreviations
Phone Sleeve Pattern
Practice Swatches
Scarf Pattern

Ratings and Reviews

Claudia Quinonez
 

I have to say that I am a fan of Vickie Howell and I absolutely love the way she teaches this class. The way she teaches this class is so easy to follow and understand. I am a beginner and was having a hard time with adding a new ball and decreases and this course has helped improve my knitting skills.

Ashley Sarikaya
 

Very helpful class! Vickie Howell is engaging and easy to follow. Excited to be taking more of her classes :)

E.L. Bl/Du
 

Vicky, WHERE have you been? You are missed on PBS show. VERY much looking fwd to this class. Vicky is one of the BEST knitting/Crochet instructors I have EVER watched. You are guaranteed to learn how to knit easily with her easy to follow instructions. Her own knitting is the most beautiful Ive seen. She tells you how to choose yarn, needles and how to follow patterns. Your set with this class. Even a seasoned pro will learn something.

Student Work

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