Okay, so I’ve recently started knitting, and I am loving it so far. However, I think I’ve been doing it wrong. I made a potholder/washcloth first. I don’t know if I’m doing the knit stitch right. I saw on another thread pictures of the knit and purl stitch. I think I’ve been purling the whole time, but I’m not sure. Can I post pictures of my work on here and maybe someone can help me out?
New here...and to knitting...confused
You can, but it’s not always easy to tell from photos. We have videos located at the top of the page under the videos tab. You can also see how the stitches are done here at this link if you need still photos.
http://www.community.knitpicks.com/notes
If you want to post photos please click the link in my signature first so you can make sure the sizes are acceptable for the forum and to learn how to post them.
Thanks Jan! I’ll take a look at those links. Hopefully I can make sense of all this.
If you have been knitting every row you would be making a stitch called garter stitch. It looks the same on both sides and it bumpy, but kind of in ridges and valleys of bumps. Garter stitch doesn’t look like the smooth vee like stitches we often associate with knitting. You might be doing it right.
Thanks! I think that’s what I’m doing then. But I do have a question, I saw a pic on here of what a stitch looks like on the needle if it’s a knit stitch and if it’s a purl stitch. Mine look like the purls.:??
As you knit every row (garter stitch), when you finish a row and turn to work the next row the stitches will always appear or present themselves to be worked as purl stitches (the little bump you saw right under the loop on the needle). That is because when you knit you make a vee on one side and a bump on the other. If you look at your work right after you knit a row, but [B]before[/B] you turn it you will discover that there is indeed a little vee right below the loop on the needle. But look carefully because the little bumps from the last row are close at hand and they are what you notice first. But if you tug down on the stitches a bit you will see the vees right under the needle.
When you purl you are also making a vee on one side and a bump on the other. In fact you get the exact same stitch if you purl every row as you do if you knit every row. It will still make garter stitch that looks the same on both sides and has the ridges of bumps. But if you purl every row the stitches as you are ready to work them will always present themselves as knits, so it will always have the smooth vee right under the needle. But if you looked at what you had worked [B]before[/B] you turn it, there would be purl bumps right under the needle in your right hand.
Knitting is very mysterious. :lol: But once you get it figured out a bit, not quite as mysterious. In a sense there is really only one stitch in knitting and the “knit” and “purl” are two sides of that stitch like the two sides of a coin.
You’re doing fine. 
Is this what you mean? The light blue sample shows what ribbing looks like. Ribbing is knitting a few stitches then purling a few stitches. When you turn if your last stitches were purled then those stitches are knit on the other side. So on this sample the bumpy part is the purled stitches on this side.
Stockinette is like the brownish sample. You knit one whole row, then purl one whole row. You end up with the classic V’s one side and all purl stitches on the other side.
The blue and gray sample is what garter looks like. It’s knit on both sides…no purling. You can see that it looks very similar to the purls.
Jan, do you have any pictures of what reverse stockinette looks like. Maybe she’s just looking at the wrong side?
Reverse stockinette is just the other side, usually considered the back side, of regular stockinette. So it would look like the purl section of the ribbing sample.