The Purl Stitch

Now that you have mastered the knit stitch, it is safe to say that you are ready for the purl stitch.
1. Cast on a small number of stitches, (ten to twenty), to practice
2. take the needle with the casted on stitches and place it in your left hand needle.
3. Instead of inserting your right hand needle into the first loop and making sure the right is behind the left, you will be going through the first loop with your right needle to make the right needle be in front of the left hand needle.
4. move the string connected to the ball of yarn to the front of your needles, and wrap it around the right hand needle which is in front of the left hand needle.
5. Now slowly pull back the right hand needle and poke it through the loop that connects the two needles, just as you did for knitting, you will now do this for purling just, poking the needle through the loop from the bottom instead of the top. Now you can pull the stitch off the string!
6. Continue doing so until you have reached the end of your row, and trade needles between hands!
Knit and purl stitches are the most common and combinations of the two can make beautiful patterns! It can be difficult to transition between knit and purl stitiches in the middle of a work, and the most common mistake is the placement of the string that is connected to the ball of yarn. once you have done a knit stitch, take the string and go around the right hand needle, to the front to do a purl stitch.  The same goes for a purl stitch to a knit stitch, after you complete the purl stitch, take the string and bring it back around the right needle and do the knit stitch.

The Knit Stitch and common knitting problems

The most basic of all stitches, and the first one everyone usually learns...the knit stitch.
1. First cast on a small number of stitches, (between ten to twenty stitches), to get started.
2. hold the needle with the casted on stitches in your left hand.
3. Using your right needle, go through the first loop on your needle, the right needle will be behind the left needle, and both will be holding the loop
4. Now taking the string connected to the ball of yarn with your right hand, wrap it around the right hand needle which is behind the left needle.
5. Here's the fun part: with your right needle, pull away from the left needle a bit , and you will see the loop that you first stuck your needle through. You will once again go through the loop by sticking your right needle into it. Now you will see the right hand needle is in front of the left hand needle.
6. You can now pull off the stitch from the left hand needle, congratulations



you have just completed the knit stitch!
7. Continue the stitch until the end of the row, and when the row is done, all stitches will be on the right hand needle, simply trade needles between your hands and start knitting again!
In case of severe confusion/tangles in the stitch: anytime something looks strange or seems tangled all you will have to do is pull the stitch off whatever needle it's on, and pull the string connected to the ball of yarn slowly, you will observe the stitch undoing itself and returning back to a simple loop.  Take this loop and place it on the left hand needle to redo the stitch, hopefully with better results!
 What to do if you run out of yarn: Do not panic, you might be out of yarn, but you're not out of luck! In case you are in the mood to knit and you find that you are now out of your yarn, the solution is very simple and practically unnoticeable.  What you first need to do is buy the exact same yarn you have been using, (if you want to, you can use different colors), I've always found it very useful to take a piece of yarn from my old ball of yarn to the store with me, so I am very sure that I have the same color and texture yarn to continue knitting with. Once you have the yarn take out the end, the do a simple knot, (cross and under knot, like what you do when tying your shoe in the beginning), do this twice. With scissors cut off all but about two centimeters of string on both ends of your knot, this cannot be too small of length of string because if it is, it will pull apart when you are trying to knit and ruin your work.  Now continue knitting as usual, working in this awkward knot that will be unnoticeable in your work, unless you are using very tiny string, then it will probably show up a bit more.