Omg---purling?!

[zsazsa chick]

ok, so am I, like the only person in the world who has trouble purling?! I mean, plain knittings fine, but as soon as I start to purl I lose a stitch there...pick up one or two there...and lemme tell ya I am sooooooo bad at correcting those too! advice?

 

[NanaKat]

Purling is knitting in mirror vision.

Practice your purling without alternating with knit stitches. You will get the hang of it better.

Then practice knit/purl.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Lots of people have more trouble when trying to purl at first, compared to doing the knit stitch. Someone even wrote an entire book of patterns that only used knit stitches and no purling!

It does get easier the more you do it. That's a good suggestion, to do entire rows of purling, instead of alternating with knit stitches. It should help you get used to it and doing those movements.

If you do a swatch of stockinette stitch, it will also help you get used to when you should be knitting and when you should be purling, by looking at how the knitting looks. That can help you when doing ribbing or simple stitch patterns. Stockinette stitch has a right and a wrong side. You knit one row and purl one row.

On simple knitting or stockinette, it's not too hard to undo one stitch and use a crochet hook to redo it, but I don't think I could explain it. I'm sure there are diagrams and videos on the web, though. I'll look around. For something really complicated, like laces, I just pay attention and rip out a row or two if I do make a mistake.

Hang in there!

 

[itsachicken]

Purling was definitely more difficult for me to pick up. Then, all of a sudden, I realized I was purling without biting my lip or clenching my jaw. I was just counting rows on my current project and realized that I had purled half a row that should've been knitted without realizing it. As far as undoing work, that's something I've only recently started to get the hang of. Somebody referred to it as "tinking" (knit backwards) a light bulb went on and it suddenly makes a lot more sense. I'd just rather not get too much pracitice at it. Good luck!

 

[mom'sfolly]

I recommend you look up European style knitting. I couldn't get the hang of knitting until I learned it European style, and purling is way easier than American style. The whole technique is more like crocheting.