Knit the Knits and Purl the Purls

Sometimes, a beginner knitter will come across a pattern that has that phrase in it - or it may be abbreviated as "K the Ks and P the Ps". And sometimes, the pattern writer will add the phrase "as they face you".

If you think that this means to Purl any stitches that you Purled in the previous row, you would be wrong!

Yep - that means that you have gone into a parallel universe, where black really means white!

OK, I'll get serious now.

The key phrase "as they face you" is important, even though some pattern writers might omit it.

When you make a Knit stitch, the result on the new needle is a stitch with a bump next to the needle on the back side of your knitted fabric (where you might not notice it), and a Vee on the front side.

When you make a Purl stitch, the result on the new needle is a stitch with a bump next to the needle on the front side of your knitted fabric, and a Vee on the back side (where you might not notice it).

If you work an entire row of Knit stitches and then swap the needles in preparation for making the next row, you will see a whole bunch of stitches with bumps next to the needle on the old needle. In other words, they look like Purl stitches. Even though you know that they were Knitted in the previous row.

Similarly, if you Purl a row and swap the needles to do the next row, you will see Vees, not bumps facing you. So they look like Knit stitches. And you know that you just finished Purling them.

When the pattern writer says to Knit the Knits and Purl the Purls, they mean Knit the stitches that look like Knit stitches, and Purl the stitches that look like Purl stitches.

And we now know that if a stitch looks like a Purl stitch, it was Knitted on the previous row (and vice versa).

Here are some photos to help you get the concept. In the first photo, the next stitch has to be a Knit stitch, because there is no bump next to the needle. In the second photo, the next stitch has to be a Purl stitch, because there is a definite bump next to the needle.

Knit the next stitch:


Purl the next stitch:

There is a free e-course on How to Read Knitting Patterns. Check it out.