Purl Stitch: How to Do It Step by Step

Purl Stitch is a knitting stitch that makes bumpy horizontal ridge on the side facing you. Makers reach for it for stockinette on flat pieces, ribbing, textured patterns. It is rated beginner here, so it is a good stitch to learn early and practice on a small swatch before a real project.

1. Bring the working yarn to the front of the work, between the needles. 2. Insert the right needle into the front of the first stitch, from right to left, so it sits in front of the left needle. 3. Wrap the yarn counterclockwise around the right needle tip. 4. Push the right needle down and back through the stitch, taking the new loop with it. 5. Slide the old stitch off the left needle. Work slowly for the first few repeats, keep your tension even, and check the result against the steps before continuing across a whole row or motif.

US patterns abbreviate purl stitch as p. UK patterns use the same abbreviation, p, so this one reads the same on both sides of the Atlantic. Pattern keys list every abbreviation used, usually near the materials list.

The most common problems are: leaving the yarn in back so no loop forms; wrapping clockwise and twisting stitches; forgetting to move the yarn back before a knit stitch. Most are easy to spot if you pause after a few repeats and compare your work with the steps. Good light helps a great deal, especially with dark yarn or thread.

Stitches closely related to purl stitch include Knit Stitch, Stockinette Stitch, Reverse Stockinette Stitch. Learning them together makes patterns easier to read, because many designs switch between related stitches to change texture, height or line. Each has its own step-by-step page in the stitch dictionary.