I recently had an epiphany about knit and purl. In all my years of knitting (which is
around thirteen… for real?) I have
used patterns to help me knit something beautiful, interesting, and cozy. Seriously, I can’t tell you how many
hours I’ve spent sitting in front of a computer trolling websites searching for
the perfect stitch. Because
really, there’s nothing worse than wasting your perfect new skein of yarn on a
boring, ugly, old stitch.
I went years knitting the “standard” way- two knitting
needles, and as few alterations as possible. Knitting was more about memorization for me than
logic. It never occurred to me to
think about why knitting one row in knit and one row in purl creates a
stockinette stitch. It just does,
and I never questioned it.
Last year, W bought me double pointed needles and circular
needles in every size for my birthday, and I was forced to learn to knit in the
round.
After I finally figured out how to join the ends and get
through the rest of the basics without a headache, it actually made me understand
knitting more. It really started
to make sense to me that there were two sides to a project; a “wrong side” and
a “right side.”
This is what a knit stitch looks like:
This is what a purl stitch looks like:
(excuse my horrible manicure)
Nowadays, I like to think of knitting like cooking. I don’t believe in recipes when
cooking. I have certain basic
skills that help me in the kitchen and I know what I want my food to taste
like. Because of that, I like to
think I’m a pretty good cook.
It’s the same with knitting. I think every knitter should have an artillery of skills
that allow us to realize the vision we have in our head without following a
pattern.
Think about it: when we’re knitting a stockinette stitch, we
always knit on the “right side” (which is also the knit side) and purl on the
“wrong side” (which is the purl side.)
Why? Because the opposite
side of purl looks like knit. Boom. Head blown, right?! Whatever stitch you choose to knit, you
need to do the opposite on the wrong side. This is the same reason why patterns for standard knitting
don’t translate to circular knitting.
In circular knitting, you’re in a continuous loop and you never switch
sides, so you don’t have to worry about keeping the pattern going when you flip
over. A stockinette in the round
is created with knit stitches across the board.
Still not convinced? Not ready to let go of your cookbook?
I’ll prove it to you.
Go grab your needles and some yarn. Cast on ten or twenty
stitches. (Even numbers to keep it simple.)
We’ll start out easy- starting with knit, alternate each row
between knit and purl. And there’s our favorite little stockinette!
Now you can see the difference between the knit side and the
purl side.
 |
| Knit Side |
 |
| Purl Side |
Now, starting with the knit side again, let’s try
alternating each stitch between knit and purl respectively, and then
alternating each row between a knit and purl starting stitch.
You just knit a seed stitch!
With the amount of stitches we’re using, we are ending on a
purl stitch. When we flip it, that
purl stitch is now a knit stitch on the opposite side. We start on a purl stitch for this row so
that we are always doing the opposite of what’s already there. This is also a great way to keep track
of where you are in your pattern.
If we didn’t change the starting stitch for each row we
would have…
Ribbing!
And if we alternated every two rows instead of each row, it
would be…
American Moss stitch! (One of my personal faves.)
If you have enough patience, you can even create designs in
your knitting!
(It's actually pretty ugly, but you get the idea.)
When you think of it this way, it’s SO easy. The trick is just to keep it even, no
matter what pattern of stitches you choose. Even if you don’t have a clue what it’s going to look like
when you’re done, you’ll have something interesting if you keep it even!
So there you have it.
I hope I haven’t offended anyone’s intelligence. Just remember how long it took me to
figure this out, and you’ll feel better about yourself.
I’d love to see what you’ve created- did you invent a new
stitch?
