I never do purl except for when I’m binding off, is there a point to doing purl? I’ve been told it just to make the wool look flat but I didn’t notice the difference, but then I only did it for one row and then went back to plain knitting! thanks! :knitting:
:?? Huh? Purling doesn’t exactly have anything to do with binding off? Purl is the back of a knit stitch, and if you bind off on a purl row, you would do then. To get stockinette, like most sweaters, you need to purl on the wrong side row, unless you always knit in the round. You need to do it for more than one row; alternate knit one row, purl one row, and keep going for several rows. Ribbing is alternating knits and purls in the same row - k2, p2.
oh I thought it was purl when you were binding off because I was taught to put the needle down into the wool rather than up through it, nevermind, I’m confusing myself here lol! thanks for the explanation. 
Check out the demos of Basic stitch patterns at http://knittinghelp.com/videos/knitting-tips
The most common castoff is knit a stitch, pass the previous stitch over and drop it, repeat to end.
You can also do this by purling each stitch, or knit one, purl the next, knit one, purl one, as you are still doing the dropping off.
In knit, this gives you a kind of flat chain on the side facing you when you cast off. If you do all purl, you will get the flat chain on the other side instead.
Look at any castoff you did in purl: if you had done it in knit, the flat chain would be on the other side.
okay, thanks!
Also (not sure I was clear) the k1p1k1p1… across as you are dropping makes the chain middling, pointing toward the ceiling/upward, rather than forward or back.
By “lay flat” I’m guessing they meant stockinette (one row knit, next row purl), instead of garter (plain knitting, knitting every row). Stockinette is a “flatter” piece of fabric (but done alone it curls on itself) where garter is “bumpy” every other row.
And, yes, going down into the front of the stitch is the start of the purl, where in knitting you go up into the back of the stitch.
Is that what you were talking about?
I find purling as necessary as knitting, personally, but I have read that others avoid it.
into the back of the stitch.
Should be toward the back of the stitch. When you knit through the back loop, then you’re knitting into the back of the stitch.
OOPs Thanks S!
Yes, up and to the back is what I was thinking.