Maggie's Rags Knitting Tips - Knitting and Purling in the Same Row

Knitting Tips - Knitting and Purling in the Same Row

When you are knitting, you must always start with the working yarn held behind your needle. When you are purling, you must always start with the working yarn held in front of your needle. When you switch between knitting and purling in one row, you must move the yarn from front to back (or back to front) between the two needle tips to place the yarn in the correct position before you actually make the stitch. When you fail to do this, an extra strand of yarn forms across the needle, which is actually a "yarn over." These yarn overs create extra stitches and form holes in your knitting.

For example, to follow the pattern instructions, K1, P1, K4, P2, here's exactly what you do: Make sure your yarn is behind your needle, then knit 1. Now, bring the yarn forward between the two needle tips and purl 1. Bring the yarn to the back between the two needle tips and knit 4. Bring it forward again between the two needle tips and purl 2. You should now have 8 sts sitting neatly on your right needle, without any extra, strange strands of yarn between them.

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