When I knit and then purl or knit one, purl two, I have trouble I end up with what looks like two stitches on my needle for when I switched. I’m really frustrated with mixing these stitches. I tried rotating the yarn to other direction so it wouldn’t cross over the needle twice, but I just seem to get knots. I have a couple knitting books, but this isn’t explained. What I need to know is how do I move from a knit stitch to a purl stitch and vice versa?
Make sure you are passing your yarn between the needles when you move your yarn back from a purl to a knit. If you pull it up and over sometimes it will flip the stitch over and make it look like two loops instead of one.
If you are seeing holes in your knitting you probably are bringing your yarn over the needles instead of between them, as Reeny mentioned.
When you bring the yarn forward between the needles for a purl you need to remember to move it back for the knit stitches. If you leave it forward it creates what is called a ‘yarn over’. Yarn overs are valid stitches and they create a little hole. They are often used in lace, for increases, or as button holes.
It just takes practice to remember to move the yarn back.
I’m still super confused. What I have tried is this. When I knit, I keep my yarn to the right and back with needles parallel. I bring the yarn around from the back between the needles so the yarn is pulled towards me. When I purl, I take my right needle and hook it down through the stitch. My yarn is still to the right, but I bring it in front of the right needle and make a new loop by pulling it from underneath to the top of the stitch. So, I have to switch yarn position between knitting and purling. This is what is messing me up I think. I either get two loops on the needle or yarn going around the outside of the end of my scarf.
Look at the Tips page under Basic Stitches for a video on the rib stitch. That should show you how to place your yarn. And do you knit continental or english?
I watched the videos you suggested in tips and found the combination knitting style to be the way I got my yarn to work properly. I’m still playing around with different combinations of knit and purl, but I have found I like it best when I have at least three purl stitches near each other. Knit two purl two just doesn’t look as pretty to me. Thanks again!