Knitting and Purling in the Same Row






When knitting and purling in the same row, you must make sure that the yarn goes between the needles and not over the needle. If you recall, in the video about learning the knit stitch, I spoke about accidentally adding an extra stitch. The same can happen here if you take your yarn over the needle instead of between the needles. You will accidentally add a stitch that is called a yarn over, abbreviated YO. It will leave an opening in your work, which is great for a lace shawl, but not so great for other things. If this happens in your practice swatch, I think it will be ok to leave it and go on. However, I would never say it’s ok to do that in a project. If it does happen in a project, you have some options. First, you can tink (knit spelled backwards) which means basically to un-knit, or undo your knitting back to where the error was made. I will have a video about how to do that soon, and will link it here when that lesson is available. Second, in certain circumstances you can drop the YO off your needle. I have dropped the YO when my knitting was very loose and the knitted fabric just absorbed it right in and I couldn’t even tell that it had been there. If I had a normal tension knitted fabric, I wouldn’t even consider it.

Ultimately, times like these are where you must make your own choice. Remember, the overall finished look of your project will suffer if you make poor choices. Take for example, a big boo boo I made recently. In the middle of a row, I did something that is called a Russian join, to start a new ball of yarn. In the beginning, I thought it looked fine and didn’t think much more about it. TWENTY rows later, I looked at it and it looked absolutely horrible. There was no way that I was going to leave it looking like that. No way! I ripped out those rows and I actually decided to start my new ball at the end of a row – the way I was taught :oD. I have used the Russian join several times mid row with no bad luck, but I will think a little harder about it before doing it again. I think the yarn and the stitch have a much greater influence on the success of it than I initially realized. So if you make some poor choices, and you will make them, learn from them, fix them if you can and let them help you hone your skill. But don’t go all OCD on me!

Stitch Identification & Ribbing

Now that you know how to knit and purl, I want to slow down a bit and show you how to identify each one. This would be a great time for a new project but I need to cover reading instructions first! Let’s knit y’all!



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