Do You Hate to Purl?

When I teach someone to knit they find the purl stitch difficult then they start to hate it. If you really think about it a purl stitch is just a knit stitch but backwards. The knit and purl stitches are the foundation of knitting. Every pattern is either straight knitting, knit and purl stitches, or any combination of the two.

I knit with either hand. I primarily knit with my right hand, that is I 'throw' or loop the yarn around the needle to make the stitch. With my left hand I use the 'knit continental' style of knitting, all that means is holding the yarn in your left hand while knitting the stitches from the left needle onto the right needle. Some how that seems more natural to me. Go figure!

If you hate to purl, have you ever tried knitting backwards? Yes, I said backwards! Never to turn your work around to the back again.

Here's how:

• Cast on some stitches and knit the 1st row. As you normally do.
• Do not switch hands, like you normally would. You should have 1 row of knit stitches on your right needle in your right hand. The left needle is empty. Now this is where the tricky part comes in. 

1. Keep the yarn in the back of the work. With the left needle in the left hand put the needle through the back of the first stitch on the right hand needle.

2. With the left hand, loop the yarn up over the needle. You are bring the yarn toward yourself and over the needle. 

3. Pull the yarn through the stitch with the left needle and slide the stitch off the right needle. Now you should have one stitch on your left hand needle. 

4. Repeat steps 1-3 until all your stitches are on the left needle now. 

**Don't switch hands now knit with your right needle as you usually would, for the knit stitch, until all the stitches on the right needle.

You gauge may change so if you are working check your gauge and see if it changes. I find with this technique my knit stitch is tight and my backwards knit stitch is loose.